Has your favorite athlete ever taken an unexpected hiatus due to mental health? I am a high school student working with my friend Ryan Gann to improve fans’ perspectives on athletes’ mental health. Through our research, we discovered that fan bases play a major role in how athletes view their performance and themselves. From missing a game-winning touchdown catch to missing the final point, these moments take a serious toll on an athlete’s mentality. The feedback athletes receive from their teams’ fan bases can damage their confidence and even destroy their once positive self-image. Ryan and I are working to address this issue by delivering headbands to high profile teams in hopes of changing the stigma surrounding athletes’ mental health.
