Mental wellness and youth sports
Nov 13, 2024
There is growing focus on the topic of youth mental health.We know as families, we need to be checking in, how are you really doing? And then we need to know what to do if they're not doing so great, said Physician and TrueSport Advisory Board Member, Dr. Deborah Gilboa.A symposium hosted by TrueSport in Colorado Springs focused on the effects of youth sports on mental wellness.The principles also apply to other activities like academics and the arts.Experts, Olympic athletes, coaches and youth gathered at the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Museum in Colorado Springs for workshops and discussions looking on strategies in sports programs to help protect and improve mental wellness.Olympic athletes like Winter Olympian and Luge Silver Medalist, Chris Mazdzer offered perspective from their sports careers.Burnout is 100% real. When you're trying to study, do sports, you have family obligations, you have friends, social media your life literally never stops, said Mazdzer, It's hard to turn off and find that time to do whatever it takes to get back and become healthy again.Some of the solutions given by the experts include: Take breaks from social media. Similar to giving your body recovery time, do the same for your mind. Build better communication between adults and young people.The goal is proactive strategies working on mental wellness as a way to lower the risk of mental illness.Click here to learn more about TruSport and its programs