Van Slingerland is a master’s student in human kinetics at the University and a guard for the Gee-Gees women’s basketball team. She suffered from clinical depression and anxiety as an undergraduate student-athlete at another university, and while her story is personal and difficult to discuss, she tells it often to peers, sports-related organizations and universities across Canada.
Sharing her feelings could make a difference. “That’s why it is important to be open about those awkward topics such as suicide,” she says.
What makes student-athletes unique from other students, who experience mental health issues at the same rate, is the code of mental toughness ingrained into their psyches, which can prevent them from seeking out medical help and support.
“Mental illness in sports is treated almost like (physical) injuries,” says Van Slingerland. “Are you hurt or are you injured? If I can push through this and I can still play then that’s what I’m going to do. It’s not really healthy, but it’s the culture of sports.”
As well, the pressure faced by student-athletes is immense. “It’s wrong to assume the status of an athlete automatically equips him or her with an innate resilience to these stresses,” she says, referring to the seemingly never-ending challenge of balancing coursework, classes, sports practice and competition, plus seeing friends and family, and doing the more mundane things such as laundry.
