The Mental Game:No Sports Makes for a Mental Mess

The Mental Game
Written by: Jordan Stowe as a courtesy to GreensboroSports.com…

The Big10, Pac12, MEAC, and all Ivy League institutions have announced there will be no sports until January 21, 2021. That means no Football and most of Basketball. With this news, that was reported earlier this week, I would like to take a look at it from a different perspective. The mental health aspect of not playing collegiate sports.

Follow me down this rabbit hole if you will. For sake of the point of the article , there a sixteen year old boy in Mount Gilead, North Carolina playing basketball in his driveway. His name is Brian Davis. He practices his free throws every day. He is in the gym every day getting his weight lifting done. He has a scholarship offer already to play at his dream school, Duke University. He has played in 1,346 games in his AAU, Middle, and High School career. Everyday of Brian’s life, he eats, breathes, and sleeps basketball. This is a game, however to most student athletes, it is their identity.

What happens to student-athletes, who this was their final season and they didn’t get their senior night. No one last homecoming game. What happens to the guy who devotes all his time to a guy like Jamie Skeen or Montay Brandon for elite training to help them get to the next level, only to find out there is no next level.

To so many student-athletes, sports are a normalcy of their life. Sports enables them to have a better life. It gives them stability, security, and an identity. What happens when the only thing they know is stripped away for an indefinite amount of time. They are left lacking. And the Brian Davis’ of the world are left dribbling a ball with only a dream of what could have been. College sports is more than a game, there’s a lot to be said for the psychological ramifications of not allowing students to play a game that so many have devoted their entire life to. Whatever sport is on, NBA, NCAA, MLB, and NFL, please support it. This may just be the beginning of the end. One love. One God. One Way.

This article was written by Jordan Stowe. He can be reached at 336-500-5638. He is a resident in North Carolina and host a Facebook sports talk show (LIVE WITH THE GUYS).