By Kalena Reynolds | Staff Writer
Being a college athlete is incredibly mentally challenging but what most people don’t realize is what all goes into being great and making it within the ecosystem of student athletes.
Baylor acrobatics and tumbling head coach Felecia Mulkey discussed what makes a successful athlete and the pressure students face while playing a sport in college.
What are some of the most significant pressures college athletes face?
I can’t really speak generally about student-athletes, but I can tell you what I’ve noticed. So mental pressure, just for student-athletes in general, if you think about it, especially freshmen who’re away from home for the first time. They’re transitioning in for the first time; they’re figuring out who they are. So take athletics out of it, and just be 18 to 22 years old and think about all of the mental pressure that’s there with 18 to 22-year-olds.
Add in the student-athlete piece, and it could be anything. It could be what they’re bringing from home. Maybe it’s that they don’t want to let their parents down. Are they going to make the starting line if they don’t want to let their parents down? They don’t want to let somebody down. So it’s just most of the time what I see with our team is the pressure that they put on themselves.
What sort of mental health services does Baylor offer to help student-athletes with the pressures they face?
Baylor Athletics is very holistic in its care for our athletes. They’re kind of a backup for everything we need. The mental health specialist, Trinity Martinez, works with our team. She’s from our athletic department mental health group, and then she’s also there as a resource in case she needs to refer out to anyone else.
What we do, if you just think of mental pressure in general, is we try to create a really safe space within our department or within our program so that they feel comfortable making mistakes. Being in a new space, meeting new people for the first time, probably for some of them 18 years old, if they haven’t moved around [they’re] meeting people under a new set of rules. So, the first thing you need when you get somewhere is belonging.
How do college athletes stay mentally healthy while pushing their minds and bodies to such extremes?
I think the people who struggle their freshman year, and maybe not mental health, but just struggle with that transition is because what they find when they get here is not exactly what they had made up in their head. That’s not right or wrong, you know. That’s kind of my theory on it. I’ve never read any books on that. That’s what I see, and it’s interesting to look at some of the seniors on my team right now. I’m so proud of them and their journey because their freshman year was not great for them. And nothing has changed about the program. But what changed as they got used to their surroundings was that they started to trust, they opened their minds and they started to enjoy the process. They’ve grown into these amazing humans and these amazing leaders.
What is the basis of a mentally tough athlete?
A confident individual can do absolutely anything. So, every year, we set out to see how we can build confidence in everybody in our team. How can we raise their C-level? That’s a very simple answer. People can read books about getting up at 5 a.m., repping this, doing that and doing this. When I say mentally tough, you have trolls on social media that will say, ‘Oh, they’re asking them to play through an injury. Or, they’re putting too much pressure to begin.’ This is where the mental health piece comes from. Mental toughness simply means being able to do what you need to do when you need to do it.
That’s it, not playing through an injury, not rubbing some dirt on it and walking off. You know, if you’re injured, you sit down, you go to the trainer. None of that ever comes into it. Mental toughness comes down to simply doing what you need to do when you need to do it. That’s it. And then a confident athlete will be a high-performing athlete under high pressure. A team that is confident in their teammates will be a high-performing team under the need of high-performance pressure.
How do you build up an entire team’s confidence?
If you had a girlfriend who was feeling low, how would you build confidence in her? Tell her how beautiful she is and her hair looks great. ‘That looks so cute on you. And let’s go grab some coffee,’ right? I’m not going to go in and do that exactly with everyone, but I try to meet them where they are. Figure out what they need. What kind of coaching do they need?
Some people need audio things. They need to hear, and they need verbal cues all the time. Some people need visual cues, and they need to see it so they can do it. They need constant video feedback. Some people need me to grab them or one of our coaches to grab them and put them in the right position. My job is to get them 1% better every day [and] celebrate the 1% every single day. Then, make them understand and believe that we’re the strongest team in the country and that they can do hard things.
