‘It almost feels like you’re alone:’ Loss of sports taking a toll on high school athletes’ mental health

To Ryan Shimp, this year has been the hardest time in his life.

He’s not alone.

Sports, basketball and baseball in particular, has always been an important part of the life of Shimp, a Yorkville High School senior. It’s how he connects with people. It’s where he builds friendships. It is an essential part of his day, a release for his struggles and negative energies.

And right now, with basketball on indefinite hold, it’s all lost.

“It’s put a heavy weight on me for sure, mentally and emotionally,” Shimp said. “Sports is how I keep close with people. Mentally right now, it almost feels like you’re alone.”

The struggles that Shimp is going through can be heard from high school athletes across Illinois, with the state limiting participation in sports as part of its COVID-19 mitigations.

Illinois was one of 15 states nationwide to not allow high school football last fall, and the only one in the Midwest, as football, girls volleyball and boys soccer were moved to the spring by the Illinois High School Association. All of Illinois high school sports were shut down Nov. 20, until this past week, when lower-risk sports such as gymnastics, boys swimming and bowling were allowed to restart.

The status of basketball, considered a higher-risk sport, has remained in limbo. Illinois is one of 18 states that have not started regular-season basketball contests, but is one of only five that does not have a date set for when basketball can begin practice, according to the National State Federation of State High School Associations.

High school athletes in Illinois, finally, received a ray of light on Friday, Jan. 22, when Illinois Department of Public Health Executive Director Ngozi Ezike said that all sports, including higher-risk sports, can play in regions that reach Phase 4 of the Reopen Illinois mitigations.

To teenage athletes in Illinois, the uncertainty and separation of the past several months is about much more than the inability to dribble a basketball or throw a football.

“I wouldn’t say I’m fully depressed, but it’s upsetting,” said Kyle Morrissey, a senior football player at Oswego East. “My brother plays hockey; they can play out of state in another state. My neighbor plays basketball in Indiana; they play in Iowa or Missouri. Seeing all these other states, they can do what they love. Seeing other states allowing sports and not ours, it’s pretty upsetting. The social aspect, too, for not playing a full year is not only affecting me but a lot of other players, too.”

The effects of the lack of participation in athletics during the pandemic is not just anecdotal. In a survey of 3,243 athletes done in July by the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, about 68% reported feelings of anxiety and depression at levels that typically would require medical intervention – a 37% increase from past research studies.

The study also reported that physical activity levels were 50% lower than they were for kids before the pandemic and that quality-of-life scores were lower than researchers had ever found in similar studies of adolescents.

With the pandemic, kids have lost a major way of forming their own identity and relating to the world around them, Dr. John Mayer, a Chicago psychologist and president of the International Sports Professionals Association, said.

“We grow up sociologically with a concept of sports as ubiquitous,” Mayer said. “It’s very accessible. … whereas other forms of identity development and talent building are a little more elusive. You don’t have easels and canvases everywhere. You don’t have a cello or a flute just hanging around.”

For athletes such as Oswego East senior swimmer John DeMarco, whose school district has been in fully remote learning the entire school year, the lack of sports has been especially difficult. DeMarco wrote to the Oswego Community Unit School District 308 school board that the mental wellness of the majority of students was low and that stress is growing. DeMarco has one friend who goes to therapy twice a week.

“He gets no social interactions. When you see that kind of thing happen, it’s definitely pretty rough,” DeMarco said. “That’s where a lot of the social interaction happens, is with the team. It really affects a lot of guys on the team who usually never have any negative thoughts. I’m not going out with friends, seeing friends. Some people haven’t left their houses in forever.”

Shimp said he definitely has seen a change in himself since the pandemic, and subsequent shutdown of sports, started.

A captain on the team last year, he likes to lead and maintain a positive mindset, with the attitude that things will always get better. Now he feels mentally drained, unleashing a stream of negative thoughts.

“It makes so many kids feel like they have nothing to work for and it makes them feel alone. I’m definitely one of those kids.”

—  Yorkville senior Ryan Shimp

“It feels like there’s not a way out. This was the last year I planned on playing sports, and it’s heartbreaking,” Shimp said. “It’s been especially hard on my motivation. It makes so many kids feel like they have nothing to work for and it makes them feel alone. I’m definitely one of those kids.”

To many athletes like Morrissey, sports brought a sense of structure to their day. He would go to school, go to practice, come home, shower and do it again the next day.

That void has left Morrissey with more time on his hands, but also heightened stress.

“You don’t know what to do with yourself. You’re like, ‘OK, I’ll push this assignment off,’ you start stressing about things,” Morrissey said. “Having sports, it forces you into a schedule.

“It’s just been pretty weird. I’ve been playing football since the second grade. Not playing for a full year, we’re losing the social aspect. It’s affecting not only me but a lot of other players.”

DeMarco has had similar experiences. He also does not think that young athletes’ mental health has been sufficiently prioritized by state leaders.

“It’s kind of mind-numbing sitting at the same desk every day, doing the same thing every day, you’re not doing anything new,” DeMarco said. “With sports, there was always a routine. You go to practice, go to school, go to practice afterward. Right now, that’s all broken up.”

Shimp, who had his baseball season lost to the pandemic last spring, has missed the competitive fire that burns within sports. Without it, he’s had to look for other outlets to stoke that fire. It might not be especially healthy, however.

“I find myself arguing and competing over simple things, like video games and board games with family and friends,” Shimp said. “I just can’t lose. I’m so used to having that competition. You don’t realize how much you miss the competition, if you lose.”

Although sports can look forward to a slow crawl back in some parts of the state, there are silver linings from the past 10 months, Mayer said.

Kids are now learning to cope with loss and trauma at an earlier age, and despite the pandemic, ways to participate in sports still exist.

“Keep the concept of team together,” Mayer said. “Keep practicing. Keep preparing. Keep your body in shape, etc. for the sport. Learn new skills. There’s a lot you can do without being in competition.”