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Mental health a concern for athletes missing out on sports during pandemic

Richmond County Daily Journal - 7/27/2020

Jul. 25--FILE -- Paige Ransom (3) throws to Lady Raiders first baseman Madison Jordan (12) during the team's home win over Uwharrie in early March.

ROCKINGHAM -- The cancellation of spring sports and the ongoing dead period for summer workouts and preparatory periods for fall sports due to the COVID-19 pandemic create a real concern for athletes' mental health, according to mental health experts.

Richmond Senior High School athletes were disappointed to see their spring seasons cut short, and those that play fall sports are holding out hope that some semblance of a season awaits them.

Madison Jordan is one of those athletes.

She graduated earlier this summer, and she, like many of her fellow graduates in their respective sports, missed out on the majority of her senior softball season.

Some of the graduates may have the opportunity to play sports in college, but for most senior high school athletes, this was likely their last time being part of a team and playing their sport competitively.

Jordan emphasized how disappointed she was to miss out on that opportunity, saying it was something she dreamed of ever since she started playing sports as a young girl.

"I've always imagined my senior season, being able to step up and be a leader and give it my all for my last year of playing," Jordan said. "That's something I've looked forward to for so long. Having something like that taken away, it's not easy, but there's just not a lot you can do about it."

That feeling of loss that Jordan is experiencing can often bring with it feelings of grief, according to Taryn Brandt, a licensed sport psychologist at the Christine F. Price Center for Counseling and Psychological Services at UNC-Charlotte.

The feeling of loss and grief can affect the community as a whole too, especially a smaller community like Rockingham and Richmond County that rallies so much around Raiders' sports and sports in general.

As someone who has been around sports in Richmond County for most of her life, Jordan sees how much local sports matter to people.

"Sports are big here because we're such a community," she said. "I guess that's just something we bond over."

For those athletes that continue to hold out hope for a fall season, the uncertainty of what's to come often brings anxiety.

"Whether that's potentially something that exacerbates some levels of anxiety that might already be there for that student-athlete or for potentially a student athlete who doesn't typically maybe struggle with anxiety," Brandt said, "this type of a situation with so much uncertainty is certainly going to bring up anxiety and stress for any student athlete with the unknowns and the questions about what's going to happen over the next week, month, year in terms of their sport."

Brandt said one of the resources that athletes dealing with this grief and anxiety can utilize is the support system they have around them, including their family members, teammates, friends, coaches, teachers and advisors at school.

"I think sometimes when we feel lost, the tendency is to disconnect and kind of isolate," Brandt said. "So really trying to stay connected because those are going to be the people who can relate to and stay connected with those individuals and help them feel a sense of normalcy."

She also suggests student-athletes try to focus on things within their control, perhaps by engaging in workouts and continuing to train for their respective sport.

"Maybe it's on their own and it looks different, but those are things that can be empowering in terms of giving them some control," Brandt said.

Reach Neel Madhavan at 910-817-2671 ext. 2748 or [email protected] Follow on Twitter at @NeelMadhavan.

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(c)2020 the Richmond County Daily Journal (Rockingham, N.C.)

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