Holistic Athlete Weekly Newsletter

Mental Health and Performance

In the 2025-2026 school year, investing time, effort, and resources into the mental health of your athletes and the development of their mental skills is necessary for optimal performance as well as creating a positively impactful experience.

There’s no question that we are facing a mental health crisis in this country, as both professional and student-athletes across the country have begun to openly discuss their struggles.

1 in 3 high school students have symptoms consistent with a diagnosable anxiety disorder.

1 in 5 high school students have symptoms consistent with a diagnosable mood disorder (Depression).

1 in 11 high school students have attempted self-harm, including suicide.

70% of high school athletes reports experiencing significant symptoms of Performance Anxiety while playing.

While sports can be a fantastic extra-curricular activity for a multitude of reasons (social, personal development, leadership opportunities, discipline, etc.) athletes are also a demographic that tend to struggle with stigma surrounding mental health — leading to an unwillingness to seek help more so than the general population.

As a coach, your role is not to be a therapist, and your athletes’ mental health is not solely your responsibility. That said, learning about how mental health impacts the individuals you lead, helping your team develop mental skills to create a competitive advantage, and building meaningful relationships with your players helps the cause, and wins you games.

4 Domains of Performance

Anytime an athlete takes the field, there are four domains of performance that will dictate whether or not they play well. Analyzing performance can be broken down into:

Physical - Size, strength, speed. The athlete’s literal capability

Tactical - Strategy, gameplan, X’s and O’s

Technical - Mechanics and technique of playing their specific position or sport.

Mental - The skills we’ll be discussing throughout the year

In individual sessions, I often ask athletes to rank their four domains to determine what needs more time, energy, and effort. When a mistake is made, it’s helpful to use the four domains in order to diagnose the issue so we can make a plan to improve.

2025-2026 Coaches Education

For purposes of education and professional development for coaches on the topic of mental health and performance in athletics:

• Mental Monday Newsletter each week

• Access to the Online Coaches Education Course is below.

Click HERE for all of last year’s newsletters!

Holistic Athlete Services

If you haven’t done so already, sign up for the 11 module Coaches Education Course! Contact me for a discount code