The unspoken rule

Another broad theme which emerged in my project*** was the theme of Self-Sufficiency & Stigma, in which participants expressed their hesitations to open up about their experiences as a man within American culture. Broadly, all the participants reported never being sat down and told what a man “should or should not be”, save for messages of chivalry and that men don’t hit women. Instead, the messages of what it meant to be a man were learned from watching others and absorbed through values instilled in them on the field. However, most participants identified the value of self-sufficiency as something that was tied to their concept of masculinity. In discussing the need to be self-reliant, there was a sense, across most participants, that their ability to be self-sufficient was intertwined with their perceived success as a man.

Hunter:  If you answered the – if you phrase the question as do you feel comfortable asking for help, asking for help, um, I would have said strongly disagree I think on almost all of them [Laughs]. Um, I don’t know where that comes from.  Maybe that’s, maybe that’s one of like the, what does it mean to you to be a man.  

Matt:  Um, I think that a lot of people, and this again might be, you know, is one of the     qualities that I think some men are taught growing up is like, you know, you figured out on your own you can do – the direction.  You don’t need to ask directions, everything can be done by your own.

Connor:  I remember my mom asking me in high school – I crashed my car, I wasn’t playing well on the football field and my girlfriend dumped me and I was depressed probably.  I was like really upset for like a month and she said, ‘Do you want me to take  you to a psychologist?’ And I was like, “What?  No, I don’t want to do that.” She was like, ‘I think you need to talk to someone.’ And I just remember being like no, I’m too manly for that to be honest.  To be honest I think it’s hard for the stereotypical man, football player to say, “Hey, I want to sit down and talk about my feelings.”...So like I never really did that with my dad.  That’s weird. 

Given the overall goal of my project was to unearth barriers to mental health services, I explored the ways in which the need for self-sufficiency may impact a man’s decision to seek help. Many participants discussed an unspoken agreement among men to only offer advice or recommend seeking help when they specifically asked—otherwise, the assumption should be that the other man could take care of himself. Even amongst teammates who spend a majority of their time together and are bonded through time and competition, all of the men shared they would be extremely hesitant to approach a teammate (or other male friend) with their struggles or ask about theirs. Importantly, this traditional masculine ideal of self-sufficiency and the internalized image of the invincible football warrior reinforce one another as young football players negotiate the stressors of their lives, and decrease the likelihood of these young men seeking help.

Hunter: ...college football players are probably less likely to seek that sort of thing out –for the same reason, versus an NFL player, for the same reason that any college student is less likely to seek that sort of thing out, versus someone who’s you know older, has a sense of invincibility.  Ah, I’ll get through this and whatever else.

Connor:  I do think as a football player and especially as a man you get in this place where it’s like you can’t – you don’t really want to – you can’t be sensitive.

As a clinician, it is imperative to work to reduce the stigma of seeking and offering help within full athletic system. The “see something—say something” mantra has begun to be instilled on high school and college campuses, but it will require a more concerted effort within Athletic Departments and individual teams.

***Based on results from my dissertation: "No pain, no gain: American football players' attitudes towards help-seeking and barriers to mental health service utilization" (2015).

Modern Day American Gladiators

Continuing the ideas from last week, a majority of the participants in my study*** criticized the prevalent ideas of sacrificing one's body and playing through pain within football culture. The idea of sacrificing one’s body is not unique to football, but seems to be a highly valued mantra across sports within American culture. I remember watching a football game one Sunday night and listening to the announcers praise one of the quarterbacks for playing through a ACL/MCL tear. They touted this young quarterback as tough, strong and as a real leader. It gave me reason to pause as I thought about this young man’s career and the likely permanent damage he was doing to his body in the hopes of making the playoffs. I realized my hypocrisy since I played on an ankle that needed surgery because it was my recruiting year and I was a captain.

The pressure to play through injuries is pervasive and glorified, but the participants in my study spoke of another fascination. Participants highlighted the glorification and vicarious experience of violence as part of broader American culture, and emphasized the media’s role in portraying football players as modern day warriors. Because their words are more powerful, here are a few of their thoughts (*pseudonyms are used):

Ryan:  I was always trying to nail someone what wasn't paying attention and I think Americans love legal violence so the ability to watch football, I mean I'm sure everybody watches what happen to players. They're faster. They're stronger and it's not stopping...so I mean I think we all thirst for almost from a gladiator standpoint....So I think overall, I think Americans love the violence. I think they feed on it...      

Connor:  I think there’s kind of this thing around people who like watching people hurt each other. You can’t see that on the streets. You can’t see that in public. So there is this kind of feeling that I get that people think that football players are objects, kind of like modern day gladiators almost...

Patrick: Football is just a representation of like human brutality and like, and form, right? Like if you think through, like, the evolution of what humans love to watch –they love watching violence. Like gladiators, right? People killing each other. Like, humans love watching these things. Up until a few years ago, every Monday, they’d play the NFL’s biggest hits from the week. Like that just stopped over the past few years because of the concussion stuff…Um, so I think that if you look at the culture of football, it’s, it’s one that’s always been kind of predicated around, around, you know, masculinity and violence.

Patrick goes on to consider the language of violence used by coaches as they teach young men about the fundamentals of football.

Patrick: Like we would have coaches saying, “I want you to, you know, punch his heart    through his chest.” Right? Or um, “Take him off the field.  Get rid of him.”  Like, like that is a culture of like violence really.  Like right? Because the more violent team wins. Because half the game is physically dominating someone.  O-line and D-line, you don’t ever touch the ball.  It’s about taking the man in front of you every play and physically dominating them.  So yeah, that’s, that’s definitely one of the cultural norms, is like being aggressive, being physical, violence.

Similarly, comparisons with the military were common across several of the interviews who described the language of “going into battle”, being a “soldier”, and “being in the foxhole”. In these ways, the language of the participants’ coaches and of the media reinforce the glorification of violence within the sport and within broader American society. 

As clinicians who work with athletes, we must look for the opportunities to discuss this value on violence and fighting. Football players are compared to warriors in battle on the field, but many players struggle with leaving the battle mentality on the field and have yet to develop anger management tools that don't involve physical engagement.  Prominant wide receiver Brandon Marshall described his struggle: 

'Football players are trained to be bipolar,’ he said. ‘You have to have a switch. You have to be able to turn the switch on when you touch the field, play with a lot of passion and emotion, violence, be able to hit a man, try to hurt a man.  Be hit by him, and love it. When the clock hits zero, you have to turn that switch off.  And 'The Beast' didn’t have that switch.’ (Deveney, S., 2011)

As we think about the ways in which we, as a society, vicariously consume violent media, we can also consider our own responsibilities in advocating for safe play and players' rights. For those who argue that recent rule changes which protect player safety "ruin" sports, I would argue that it's better to have sports evolve as the physicality of athletes evolve than it is to continue to have athletes be physically and mentally impaired for the rest of their lives. 

***Based on results from my dissertation: "No pain, no gain: American football players' attitudes towards help-seeking and barriers to mental health service utilization" (2015).

Deveney, S. (2011). Brandon Marshall becomes unlikely voice for mental health. Sporting News, October 25, 2011. Retrieved on October 8, 2012 from: http://aol.sportingnews.com/nfl/story/2011-10-25/brandon-marshall-becomes-unlikely-voice-for-mental-health.

You're a football player.

Another major theme that emerged in my study centered around the way others grouped football players together, for better or worse, and this theme was called deindividuation of football players. This social grouping, or deindividuation, was often mirrored within the culture and structure of American football, again, for better or worse.

Most of the participants noted the visibility of being an athlete and therefore the strong identification as a football player by others. For themselves, most participants described the importance of their athletic identity on a personal and social level. Their athletic identification was a positive source of pride and a social facilitator in most situations. Many shared that being a football player opened doors, both during and after college, to rare social and occupational opportunities. Within their team, all of the participants described a sense of family, brotherhood, and accountability to your teammates as a vital element within football. Additionally, many participants described the "put it on film" culture of football, and the opportunity to give and receive feedback as an equalizing force in which each person was responsible to their teammates and each player had the opportunity to provide valuable input to advance the team's success.

However, a majority of the participants described the limiting messages and stereotypes (i.e. “the dumb jock”) they received regarding their academic and emotional abilities as football players. Importantly, the participants who also identified as men of color were particularly aware of messages that spoke to their value, and some were given the message that football was their primary, if not only, avenue for success. Additionally, because of increased visibility, several participants described instances in which they were targeted as football players, usually at parties or local bars, and would get caught up in physical altercations. Within their team, a majority of the participants criticized the prevalent deindividualized values of sacrificing one's body and playing through pain within football culture. These values, coupled with the focus on individual statistics, often left participants feeling like "a piece of man meat"...a replaceable unit in a greater system.

Similarly, participants highlighted the glorification and vicarious experience of violence within football as part of broader American culture. More on that in the next post…

***Based on results from my dissertation: "No pain, no gain: American football players' attitudes towards help-seeking and barriers to mental health service utilization" (2015).

Football hierarchy--the importance of feedback and role clarity

Building upon my last blog post, regardless of how the team culture is established by coaches—all participants*** emphasized the hierarchical nature of football teams and organizations.The players indicated the hierarchical structure can be formal/explicit or informal/implicit; the value of the hierarchy also differs between teams depending on coaching values and the corresponding team values.

The participants all agreed that the hierarchy in a football organization is structured as follows: ownership and management/college athletic director is at top and is responsible for hiring coaches and personnel; next is the head coach and then other coordinators and position coaches who are responsible for setting team culture, determining style of play and playing time for players; next are the team captains and veteran players who are responsible for maintaining the team culture and partially responsible for modeling and enforcing expected behaviors; next are the exceptional players and the starters; next is the rest of the team who are either fighting for a starting spot or trying to solidify their roles as key role players; finally are the players on the scout teams and those on injured reserve. 

Importantly, all of the participants felt their value as a football player (and place within the team’s hierarchy) was determined week-by-week according to their performance on the field. Oftentimes participants (as many athletes do) used specific quantitative statistics to illustrate their value, and they shared the stress of becoming hyper-focused on their stats. Most of the participants described the constant pressure to maintain or improve their position within the team. As a result, most participants described the roller coaster of emotions week-to-week, and several participants described players’ increased focus on trying to control their environment, which led to some teammates using substances to cope with the ups-and-downs.

As a clinician, I find myself helping athletes cope with the stress of within-team competition just as often as external competition. In order to thrive and be successful, athletes must be able to strive for individual success while making the success of the team a priority. One of the most important lessons I can help an athlete learn is the importance of seeking feedback and role clarity. The unknown can be a paralyzing force. Seeking feedback from trainers, teammates, and coaches is a fundamental skill that can help reduce the worries associated with the unknown. Athletes can be hesitant to seek direct feedback about their performance or areas for growth, but doing so will help the athlete improve and will provide clarity about their role on their team. With that information, the athlete can then decide whether they are satisfied with their role or whether they would like their role to change. 

***Based on results from my dissertation: "No pain, no gain: American football players' attitudes towards help-seeking and barriers to mental health service utilization" (2015).

The importance of team values

My dissertation unearthed several perceived barriers to seeking mental health services. One of the major barriers identified by participants had to do with the culture of sport itself. Generally, participants identified the culture of football as the predominant barrier to seeking professional mental health services.

As discussed in the previous post, sports play an important role in developing our sense of self—who we are and what we believe in—and most athletes will integrate lessons they learn from their coaches, teammates and sports participation into their personal values. Many of the participants stressed the importance of picking a school/football program that fit their individual strengths, and where they felt they would have a competitive advantage as a football player. Importantly, however, participants reported the best experiences when the team culture created by their coach mirrored their own personal values. Similarly, participants described the frustration and confusion, both as an athlete and as an individual, when it became clear that there was a mismatch between an athlete’s personal values and team culture.

Participants all felt that it was the coach who set the team culture, either explicitly or implicitly, and that the captains played a unique role in enforcing the culture in the locker room and on the field. They indicated some coaches are more intentional in setting the team culture and expectations for players through team meetings and setting team mottos for the upcoming season, while other coaches set the team culture implicitly by their recruiting and hiring decisions, their preferred style of play, playing time decisions, and punishment for various behaviors.

When players felt they were playing for a coach who shared their personal values and athletic values, they felt more supported, more confident, more trusting of the coach's decisions, and generally reported feeling a positive playing experience. However, when there was a mismatch between the player's values and those of the coach, they felt more insecure, more isolated, had worries about their success on the team, and were less likely to trust the intentions of their coaches. It seemed, in talking with the players, that transparency was a highly sought after value in coaches--players wanted to play for someone who was open and honest in their communication and decision making. In other words, they wanted to play for someone who they understood and who was consistent. 

When working with younger athletes, I often try to help them think through and identify what values are important to them so they can then identify which coaches and programs would be a good match. The process of identifying important values can help the athlete set their own goals and mindset regardless of whether they have the luxury of choosing a team/program. When working with coaches or teams, I often start with a hypothetical --imagine it's the end of the season and a sports writer was writing an article about your team and the season...what do you hope they will write? What would you want them to notice was different about your team? This way of thinking helps folks start brainstorming what is at the core of their organization, team and their players. Once you can identify your values, how to set meaningful goals and standards for the season becomes much more clear and allows players to compete with intention. 

***Based on results from my dissertation: "No pain, no gain: American football players' attitudes towards help-seeking and barriers to mental health service utilization" (2015).