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Beyond skills, Solon High athletes embrace mental health
Teams working with UI sports psychologist on leadership and confidence
Grace King
Jan. 28, 2024 6:00 am
SOLON — Solon High School girls wrestling Coach Jake Munson is watching athletes grow — not only as competitors, but also in their confidence and team camaraderie since they began working with a sports psychologist.
Last spring, the district brought in sports and performance psychology specialist Mike Berrebi from the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics to help provide supports for the mental aspects of training and competition.
The learning will help the girls beyond the wrestling mat, Munson said. Student athletes across all sports are learning how to prioritize their mental health, challenge their negative self-talk, make space for mindfulness and support each other.
Berrebi has been meeting with coaches and student athletes since March to teach them relaxation strategies, like how to manage their breathing. They also are participating in cognitive behavioral therapy, examining how their thoughts impact how they feel, identifying negative statements and replacing them with positive self-talk.
The Gazette spoke with Solon Athletic Director Casey Hack on how incorporating sports psychology into high school athletics is impacting students.
Q: How did you learn about performance psychology and why did you want to introduce it to Solon athletes?
A: My interest was sparked because when you read about high-level athletes, what makes the great ones great and sets them apart are the athletes who have a sports psychologist. That has always interested me. I started thinking, “What are we doing for our high school athletes?” Coaches get busy working on certain skills, strategies of the game, but how much time are we putting into the mental well-being of our student athletes?
Dr. Berrebi sees a future for this. It would be something like a school counselor, but more of a sports psychologist person to support athletes. I was interested in getting someone here face-to-face to meet with students.
Q: How has it impacted athletic performance?
A: You see kids practicing the strategies being taught — doing some deep breathing. This actually does work. It will refocus you. Visualize what it’s like to be out on the field. What do you see? What do you smell? What do you hear? So when you’re out there whether it’s on game night or a big interview later in life, it’s like you’ve been there before.
You also can visualize it all day — in wresting, for example — that you will go out there and pin this kid, and then you go out there and get pinned in 10 seconds. That kid might have just been better. We talk about what can you control, what can’t you control and what are you going to do when things aren’t going your way? Being coachable, being a good teammate, being realistic. If we’re the 30th best team in the state playing the first best team in the state, the goal it to go out, compete and do your best. That needs to be your focus.
Our girls soccer coach does a good job using some of this material like practicing meditation before games. The goal is if a kid can take one of the things they’ve learned and use it to their benefit, that’s a successful session. Not everything is going to work for every kid. Trying to find one or two things out of a session that can help a student in some capacity, it’s still worth it.
It’s awesome to see we’re putting an emphasis on mental health.
Q: What have you learned from this program?
A: When I was coaching, I don’t feel like I hit on that mental side a lot. Cross-country, for example, how much of your sport is physical vs. mental? A lot of kids will say it’s 50/50, but how much time do you spend on the mental side of cross-country? Even if you gave 10 minutes a day to that part of it, do you think that could help you? It opens up a conversation with the kids that maybe we’re on to something here.
Comments: (319) 398-8411; grace.king@thegazette.com