By Stephen G. Adubato — 2020
Baldwin’s words explore what hatred can do not only to society at large but to the individual who bears it.
Read on www.americamagazine.org
CLEAR ALL
Plenty of people love to describe the world of athletics in utopian terms, using words such as “colorblind” and “open-minded” and “meritocracy.” They’re not wrong to regard their realm as better than the so-called real world.
Black women are 37 cents behind men in the pay gap—in other words, for every dollar a man makes, black women make 63 cents.
In the documentary “The Weight of Gold,” Phelps presents a stark picture of the mental wear and tear Olympians endure.
Osaka’s mental health challenges are nothing new in her isolating sport. What is new is the acceptance she’ll face—and the paths back—if she takes a prolonged break.
In the past few weeks, my journey took an unexpected path but one that has taught me so much and helped me grow. I learned a couple of key lessons.
1
Through the size of her platform, however, and her decision to choose well-being over pursuit of a Grand Slam title, Osaka offers the promise of bringing mental health awareness—both inside and outside of sports—to an entirely new level.
Michael Phelps, the most decorated athlete in Olympic history with 28 medals, has acknowledged that after the 2012 games, his longtime depression was so overwhelming he thought about killing himself.
Experts I spoke with for this story pointed to a couple of reasons professional athletes are particularly susceptible to mental health issues.
Research shows exercise can ease things like panic attacks or mood and sleep disorders, and a recent study in the journal Lancet Psychiatry found that popular team sports may have a slight edge over the other forms of physical activity.
By withdrawing from competition citing concerns over her mental health, Biles showed that resisting expectations can be more powerful than persisting through them.