VOA教育报道--Recent Deaths of Female College Athletes Bring Attention to Mental Health

Recent Deaths of Female College Athletes Bring Attention to Mental Health

In 2021, sports fans around the world learned about the issue of women's mental health in sports from Simone Biles and Naomi Osaka.

Osaka is a champion Japanese tennis player. But last year she said she did not want to talk to news reporters at the French Open tennis competition. After her first match, Osaka decided¹ to withdraw from the event. She said critical questions from reporters made her lose confidence in her ability to play.

Later on, Osaka said she felt long periods of intense sadness known as depression after winning the U.S. Open in 2018.

At the postponed² Summer Olympics in Tokyo, top American gymnast Simone Biles did not compete in some of her best events. She said she felt too much pressure to perform. She said she was "fighting" with herself. Biles left the gymnastics team competition and the American gymnastic team got the silver medal instead of the gold.

Biles did return to competition at the Olympics and won a bronze medal. When the Olympics ended, she said she would take some time off but has not said whether she will try to compete at the 2024 Olympics in Paris.

Almost one year later, Osaka is playing tournaments again. She recently made it to the finals of the Miami Open in the American state of Florida.

Not only professional athletes

Osaka and Biles are two of the most famous female athletes in the world. But college athletic³ officials in the U.S. are concerned that not enough is being done to support the mental health of young women athletes.

Many women compete in sports for colleges and universities. Their softball games and soccer games are not seen by millions of people on television. But their health is still an important issue.

In addition, some young women athletes are now making money in their sports and feel pressure to present an image and meet the requirements of sports business deals.

But this year, the deaths of female athletes showed that mental health is just as important as physical health. Three American college student-athletes died by suicide⁴. Katie Meyer was 22. She was a soccer player for Stanford University in California. Sarah Shulze was a 21-year-old runner at the University of Wisconsin. The third was 20-year-old Lauren Bernett, a top softball player on the team at James Madison University in Virginia.

Efforts to support mental health

Paul Newberry is a writer for the Associated Press. In a recent opinion piece, he wrote: "May their deaths not be in vain."

That means he hopes that the officials who supervise⁵ college sports consider mental health just as important as physical health. He suggested they should do more to keep young athletes who may be depressed⁶ from harming themselves.

Jane Timmons-Mitchell is a psychology⁷ professor at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio. She talked with Newberry and said often when people hear about young people killing⁸ themselves, they ask "why?" But she wants people to ask: "'What?' What can we do about it? How can we be the most help and the most effective?"

Paul Myerberg writes about sports for the USA Today. He said some groups of large universities with sport ties, known as conferences, are trying to help athletes with their worries and concerns.

In late 2021, three large sports conferences joined to work to bring attention to mental health issues for college athletes. The mental health plan is called Teammates for Mental Health.

Kevin Warren leads one group of schools called the Big Ten Conference. He said: "This initiative⁹ is designed to remind all of us, especially our student-athletes, to prioritize our mental health and seek professional help when needed."

Dr. James Borchers is the chief medical officer for the Big Ten. He told USA Today that adults running college sports need to make mental health "a topic that's OK to talk about ... without any sort of stigma¹⁰ or without any sort of judgment¹¹."

Newberry said the stories of the three young women should make people "renew" their commitment to helping¹² those in need. Newberry called for being watchful¹³ and to have "love and compassion¹⁴" rather than judgment for others.

Out of the dark

Allison Schmitt won four gold medals in her Olympic swimming career. She said she thought about harming herself even after winning medals at the London Olympics in 2012. She said no one ever wants to feel that way "but this feeling is a reality for many people and their families."

Schmitt said many people who feel as if they want to hurt themselves are scared but do not know how to "get out of the dark place." It took her three years after the Olympics to find help from a professional.

Timmons-Mitchell said many people felt alone over the last two years because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Restrictions¹⁵ made it harder for athletes to stay in contact with friends who were not on their sports teams.

Pandemic changes

As much as they love their sport, Timmons-Mitchell said, some athletes felt as if the sport took over their identity.

"It's really the perfect storm," she said of the pandemic.

Dr. Ashwin Rao is a sports doctor at the University of Washington. During the pandemic in late 2020, he gave a presentation to the American Medical Society for Sports Medicine. He said depression affects young women more often than other groups. Rao said, during the pandemic it has been harder for coaches and sports doctors to spend time with college athletes.

As a result, they have not been able to recognize changes in behavior. He suggested a fix:

"(Spend) time around your athletes as best as you can so you know who they are. So if their behavior changes, you can identify it," he said.

Words in This Story

confidence– n. the feeling that you can do something well and succeed

athletes– n. a person who is trained in or good at sports

in vain – phrase: used to mean not producing the desired result

initiative – n. a plan or program intended to solve a problem

prioritize – v. to make something the most important thing in a group

stigma – n. a set of negative or unfair beliefs that a society has about something

compassion – n. the feeling of wanting to help someone who is sick or in trouble

medal – n. a piece of metal in the shape of a coin, given in honor of an achievement, such as winning a competition

1 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

2 postponed   

vt.& vi.延期，缓办，（使）延迟vt.把…放在次要地位；[语]把…放在后面（或句尾）vi.（疟疾等）延缓发作（或复发）

参考例句：

• The trial was postponed indefinitely. 审讯无限期延迟。
• The game has already been postponed three times. 这场比赛已经三度延期了。

3 athletic   

adj.擅长运动的，强健的；活跃的，体格健壮的

参考例句：

• This area has been marked off for athletic practice.这块地方被划出来供体育训练之用。
• He is an athletic star.他是一个运动明星。

4 suicide   

n.自杀，自毁，自杀性行为

参考例句：

• The number of suicide has increased.自杀案件的数量增加了。
• The death was adjudged a suicide by sleeping pills.该死亡事件被判定为服用安眠药自杀。

5 supervise   

v.监督，管理，指导

参考例句：

• We must supervise and speed up the fulfilment of assigned tasks.已经布置了的工作，应当认真督促检查。
• Tomorrow he will supervise all the pupils taking the English examination.明天全体学生考英语，他将担任监考。

6 depressed   

adj.沮丧的，抑郁的，不景气的，萧条的

参考例句：

• When he was depressed,he felt utterly divorced from reality.他心情沮丧时就感到完全脱离了现实。
• His mother was depressed by the sad news.这个坏消息使他的母亲意志消沉。

7 psychology   

n.心理，心理学，心理状态

参考例句：

• She has a background in child psychology.她受过儿童心理学的教育。
• He studied philosophy and psychology at Cambridge.他在剑桥大学学习哲学和心理学。

8 killing   

n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财

参考例句：

• Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
• Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。

9 initiative   

n.主动性，首创精神，主动权（的行动），倡议

参考例句：

• He went to see the headmaster on his own initiative.他主动去看望校长。
• His employer had described him as lacking in initiative and drive.雇主说他缺乏进取心和干劲。

10 stigma   

n.耻辱，污名；(花的)柱头

参考例句：

• Being an unmarried mother used to carry a social stigma.做未婚母亲在社会上曾是不光彩的事。
• The stigma of losing weighed heavily on the team.失败的耻辱让整个队伍压力沉重。

11 judgment   

n.审判；判断力，识别力，看法，意见

参考例句：

• The chairman flatters himself on his judgment of people.主席自认为他审视人比别人高明。
• He's a man of excellent judgment.他眼力过人。

12 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

13 watchful   

adj.注意的，警惕的

参考例句：

• The children played under the watchful eye of their father.孩子们在父亲的小心照看下玩耍。
• It is important that health organizations remain watchful.卫生组织保持警惕是极为重要的。

14 compassion   

n.同情，怜悯

参考例句：

• He could not help having compassion for the poor creature.他情不自禁地怜悯起那个可怜的人来。
• Her heart was filled with compassion for the motherless children.她对于没有母亲的孩子们充满了怜悯心。

15 restrictions   

约束( restriction的名词复数 )； 管制； 制约因素； 带限制性的条件（或规则）

参考例句：

• I found the restrictions irksome. 我对那些限制感到很烦。
• a snaggle of restrictions 杂乱无章的种种限制