The number of student-athletes reporting mental health concerns in fall 2021 was 1.5 to two times higher than before the COVID-19 pandemic.

That result came from an NCAA Student-Athlete Well-Being Study released in May, which surveyed almost 10,000 student-athletes.

One important contributor to such shifts, said University of Pittsburgh Athletic Director Heather Lyke, is increased awareness about both the physical and mental health issues of young competitors. And that awareness has opened up all sorts of conversations.
In recent years, women athletes have watched cases such as that of Larry Nassar, the doctor who abused gymnasts on Team USA and at Michigan State University, as well as seen the examples of high-profile professionals including tennis player Naomi Osaka and gymnast Simone Biles stepping temporarily away from their sports for mental health reasons. 

“It’s allowed women a platform to not be afraid to speak out,” Lyke said.

“You do feel like it was because some of those things happened years ago and things are different now. Because of the awareness, because of the platform, because of the understanding of the protections that all people have, but women in particular, and the laws that can be enforced in Title IX, you feel like, I think, it's in a much better place.”

While the Nassar case and the abuse faced by those athletes — including Biles, Laurie Hernandez, Aly Raisman, McKayla Maroney, who shared their stories publicly — will always hurt, it has led to systemic changes within not only gymnastics but all women’s sports.
Social media played a big part in these changes, with people being more aware of cases like the Nassar case because it was popping up on their feeds. 

A more recent example came during the 2021 NCAA women’s basketball tournament. Oregon’s Sedona Price took to TikTok to show the disparity between the NCAA’s amenities for its women’s teams compared to those for the men’s teams, including the small weight rack for the women and versus the vast weight room for the men.

Putting a spotlight on the issue did lead to change, to reassessments of issues of parity — and a recognition about how such disparities might impact athletes.

“It raised everyone's awareness about, ‘OK, how are our championships around at our conference level?’” Lyke said. “How do we manage things within our department? What do our locker rooms look like? That was a great example of using your platform and making sure that people realize that this isn't OK.”

A lot has changed since newly installed Pitt gymnastics coach Casey Jo MacPherson was a student-athlete.

She competed for the University of Arkansas from 2007-2010 and had a prolific career where she claimed 71 individual event titles and eight All-American honors. She also helped lead Arkansas to a fifth-place national finish in 2009, 10th-place national finish in 2009 and 11th overall in 2010.

Issues of mental health took on an “old school mentality” when she was there, she said. It simply wasn’t something that was talked about. But in a sport where so much attention is placed on body image and perfection, mental health is something MacPherson has emphasized as a coach.

“I don't even know if any programs really get numbers anymore, get [body] weights, things like that,” she said. “I think that all goes through the nutrition staff for the most part.”
 

Instead of focusing on that in discussions with athletes, she said, “It's more about getting the hydration, getting enough sleep, getting enough of the right foods to fuel you not just for practice, but throughout the day for classes and everything.

“A lot of that goes back to how we are helping people make the best choices for them and what they need rather than just saying, ‘I want you in a certain number.’ It's just not as helpful or productive.”

Just talking about mental health has become more accepted. For MacPherson, she said she holds that to the same standard as physical health. Both need to be taken care of for the athletes to be at their best.

Gymnastics in particular set off a huge conversation about mental health back in 2021 when Biles stepped out of Olympic competition to focus on her own.

“It makes it feel very real when you have this person who is incredible in her sport,” MacPheson said. “Sometimes we can think that that person doesn't struggle with anything, that they have no issues, that everything's easy for them.

“So for her to talk about that and be open about that, and do what was best for her in that moment, opens up the conversation of, everyone's human. So even people that are the best at their craft, are still human and might still struggle with things.”

That goes hand in hand with people using social media or other public forums to encourage those who are struggling to get help.

“It's forced us to rethink how we're having conversations,” MacPherson said. “How we're addressing certain topics and how sensitive certain things can be, or how triggering certain conversations can be. Who's maybe most appropriate to have those conversations and who could we direct them to? ... We always want to create a safe space where our athletes or whoever we're working with are comfortable coming to talk to us about anything.”

MacPherson has seen conversations become more relationship focused, both from a coach’s and an athlete’s perspective. It’s less of a “you need to do this,” and more of a “how can we do this?”

It’s allowed for more discussions about why decisions are made and it gives autonomy to the athletes to be part of some of those. And that’s across the board at Pitt, Lyke said.

“Ownership in any area only helps us get better,” MacPherson said. “When we take ownership of our decisions, our behaviors, what we're doing, we're looking through a lens of, ‘How can I get better? What am I doing that's maybe not as helpful, what can I be doing differently?’ … By taking ownership, you're going to be more bought in, which leads to better results.”