Mental Health is a major issue in sports nowadays whether it leads to early retirement or breakdown midgame. Nowadays, the topic of mental health has become a significant topic in the public eye.  Due to social media, mental and emotional health concerns have been increasing in adolescents. Someone’s mental health can also be altered by the amount of stress that is put on them. I was able to catch up with a student-athlete and ask how sports affect his stress and mental health.

I went by and asked 11th grader, Jacob Khalil, Khalil told me“At the moment I’m a Junior and I am part of the Varsity Soccer team at Castaic” Khalil responded. I asked Khalil what his view on mental health was and how sports affected his mental health.

I asked him about the classes that he takes and asked if he took any AP classes. “I am in AP physics and that is the only AP or honors class I’m in,” Khalil replied. Afterwards, I asked him if these classes added extra stress on him, and if it affected his mental health. “No, I don’t think any of my classes, including the AP classes, have ever put a toll on my mental health or stress, at least at the moment” Khalil proceeded to tell me.

As a student-athlete myself, we talked about our sports and I asked him if soccer affected his mental health, Khalil told me that soccer came stress-free to him, “No, I have never felt any pressure or unnecessary stress in school due to soccer.”, “Sometimes I get nervous, but it doesn’t get in the way of my schoolwork.” when he was asked if he had any unnecessary stress due to soccer. We talked about his grades and he told me that his grades have been great since Freshman year  “I have never struggled with my grades because of soccer,” Khalil explained. “I don’t usually get a lot of homework, but when  I do, I get it all done.”

When  asked if how he performed at games ever made him feel stressed, or if how he performed ever made him feel excited Khalil said“When I do super good, I feel very confident and I feel accomplished.” Khalil replied, “But, when I struggle, I never get sad or mad, I just work on what I need to improve on and I make sure to show improvement.”

Overall, Khalil doesn’t let anything get to his head. “Am I happy all the time, probably not, but 99% of the time yes.” When he was asked about his overall happiness he also added on “I think soccer does the opposite of making me sad or mad, it makes me completely happy. It makes me feel different.” Overall, from what Khalil has told me,  he has never had mental health problems due to school or sports. The mental health of a student-athlete can or cannot be affected by sports and, depending on the person, they may or may not have great mental health.