A Silent foe: how athletes have handled anxiety, depression during the pandemic

.....Maddy Hunter, a senior lacrosse midfielder, temporarily lost that mechanism when she injured her knee freshman year. Hunter said she finally confronted her anxiety when the everyday rush settled down. 

At her breaking point, she finally accepted her heightened emotions. She said she didn’t know what anxiety was; she thought feeling constantly worried was normal. 

“People shy away from it, because it might be scary and they don`t want to face it,” Hunter said. 

Lead psychologist of Sun Devil Athletics Jayme Shelton explained that every emotion and thought athletes had is now emphasized and saturated since the onset of the pandemic, she said.

In times of stress, people fall into habits that help alleviate that feeling. Athletes, particularly, in college deal with a tremendous amount of high-pressure situations, so they understand how to adapt in tough circumstances......

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Bethany`s Notes: We are all going through different emotions during this time of uncertainty. Those who didn`t experience a loss of a season in the spring may be, for the first time, experiencing the loss of their sport. Ask for support, reach out, and be willing to listen and empathize.