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Breaking the Stigma: The Student-Athlete Support Coalition at Sycamore High School

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Breaking the Stigma: The Student-Athlete Support Coalition at Sycamore High School
The Student-Athlete Support Coalition poses for a group photo at UW-Madison.

Content Warning: This story mentions sensitive mental health topics, including suicide.

Over the last year, there has been a growing desire for change surrounding conversations about student-athlete mental health at Sycamore High School. The passion to have these conversations sparked action, and from that action came a new support group: the Student-Athlete Support Coalition. Formed after its founding staff members, Maryellen Spicer, Mark Holstein, Ashley Jordan, and Luke Spicer, recognized this desire, the coalition aims to encourage student-athletes to have more open conversations about the mental health struggles they face. 

Maryellen, who co-presented on the coalition during a board meeting on September 12, 2023, said that over the past year, she had been confronted with stories from parents of student-athletes who have lost their students to suicide. A common thread through these stories was that these students often displayed little to no warning signs, instead presenting as successful athletes who seemed to have it all together. “We need to start talking about this,” said Maryellen.

She began to reach out to other staff members at the high school to see if they would be interested in working to face this reality with the student-athletes of Sycamore High School. That’s when she found support from Holstein, Jordan, and Luke Spicer — all of whom were excited to address the need and ready to get to work. The group began to brainstorm how they could talk about the topic of mental health among the high school’s student-athletes, an important issue when over 60% of the school’s population falls within that category. “How can we impact and reach those students to start to break the stigma?” became the guiding question of the group, said Maryellen.

Soon after, a small group of students involved in athletics was brought in to speak to the founding staff members about what they would want the mission to be for an athlete support system. The students said the same thing that the staff had highlighted: breaking the stigma around athletes who struggle with anxiety and depression. “We want to give them coping strategies,” noted Maryellen. “If they are feeling overwhelmed, they will know who to go to.”

A question arose among the staff as they worked to piece together their vision of this new support system: why athletes and not the overall student population? The answer that was realized in speaking to the initial panel of student-athletes was that there were different focuses when it came to them rather than the student population as a whole. Namely, student-athletes experience triggers that differ from the common kinds of triggers that non-athlete students experience. 

Monroe McGhee, a senior at Sycamore High School and member of the coalition, presented five athlete-specific triggers the coalition has focused on since its formation. Schedules are at the top of the list; athletes commonly play anywhere from one to five games a week on top of their after-school practices and assigned school work to complete, which can lead to large stress in trying to manage time. There is also a large pressure to win, especially when you have loyal fans like Sycamore showing up in large numbers to games. “It’s hard if you don’t deliver a victory,” added McGhee. Injuries can throw large wrenches into an athlete’s life, causing a struggle to figure out who they are outside of their sports identity. As early as sophomore year, student-athletes are faced with the decision to play at the collegiate level or not, along with who to play for and the presence of scouts. McGhee highlighted the final trigger as one’s team environment; while there is great power in relying on a team, if a team environment is toxic, it can lead to detrimental deterioration of an athlete’s mental health.

“An estimated 32% of today’s young people have experienced some anxiety disorder. One in six high school students seriously consider attempting suicide,” continued Maryellen. “As we looked at these stats and talked about these unique triggers, we sat down and said ‘Ok, now what? How are we going to address this at the high school level, and how does that trickle down to the younger levels as well?’” This was something the coalition did not want to lose sight of — recognizing that these triggers aren’t experienced only by high school athletes but start earlier in younger athletes. This led them on a search to find ways to help kids develop coping strategies for when they are feeling those triggers. They discussed bringing in speakers, having a panel discussion with younger athletes, mental health days, and other mental health awareness outlets as possible actions to take as they expand their work.

In the spring of 2023, the coalition made a trip to the University of Wisconsin-Madison to meet with former Sycamore alum Chad McGehee, Class of 1999. McGehee currently serves as their Athletic Department's first-ever Director of Meditation Training. Chad is at the cutting edge of utilizing mindfulness strategies to help train student-athletes, as well as staff and coaches. The coalition students who made the trip had the opportunity to speak with McGehee about their experiences as student-athletes, as well as goals to strive for in their work at Sycamore High School with the coalition. The students and coaches then had the chance to walk through a meditation process with McGehee that he uses with his athletes, an example of what they hope to bring to Sycamore. From this experience, the coalition was able to gain more insight into how a dedicated focus on good mental health can make a major difference in performance.

Upon returning from their trip, the coalition created their official Instagram presence, “@sycamore427_sasc.” The goal of this page was to establish a location for student-athletes, coaches, and parents to turn to for information, as well as serve as an additional way for them to keep in contact and support each other online. The group has since built upon this idea of unity and support in establishing their Instagram account by putting it into practice in person at athletic events — something they call “Spartans4Spartans.” This initiative involves an entire Sycamore team attending another Sycamore team’s game/match to build culture and support classmates who may not typically see their peers in attendance.

The coalition has been very excited to see the response to their efforts since its formation and is looking forward to continuing to establish themselves at the high school this first year. Mallory Wolf, an SHS Social Worker, and Meg Cohrs, a teacher at SHS, have joined the staff leading the coalition and become valuable members in their efforts. The group’s latest goal is to establish a monthly newsletter that has been developed to give strategies to Sycamore coaches to help support their athletes, the majority of whom have nominated one to two student-athletes from their respective sports to be representatives of the coalition. The newsletter will be shared on the coalition's Instagram page to highlight a specific topic each month, such as October’s topic on the importance of breathing/focusing on one’s breath. They also have plans in the works to develop PSAs for athletes with the help of students in the SpartanTV program.

It’s been a big inaugural year for the Student-Athlete Support Coalition so far, and it will be exciting to watch as they continue establishing powerful support resources and relationships at Sycamore High School for current and future student-athletes. Be sure to follow their Instagram account, @sycamore427_sasc, to keep up with the good work still to come.

If you are a student or staff member who is struggling with mental health, the district can help connect you with people and resources to support you. Don’t hesitate to reach out to your school’s counseling office or school social workers to get the assistance you need. If you are having suicidal thoughts, call or text 988 to get help from the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline.
 

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