If you’ve ever felt like quitting a sport you once loved, you’re not alone. As a counsellor in Calgary, I’ve experienced firsthand how societal expectations, gender roles, external pressures and mental health struggles shape the athletic experience.
For many adolescent girls, sports provide a sense of community, confidence, teamwork, life skills, and an outlet for stress. However, they also come with unique challenges that impact mental well-being. Despite these benefits, about 1 in 3 girls drop out of their sport by late adolescence, often driven by judgment, confidence struggles, body image concerns, academic pressure, and social expectations.
This blog explores the common struggles girls face in sports and how therapeutic approaches can help them thrive.
Challenges Girls Experience in Sport
Body Shaming and Body Image Pressure
For many girls when they reach adolescence self-esteem decreases and negative body image increases. Sport can often heighten these concerns. Girls in sport often receive harmful and conflicting messages about their bodies.
- “You must achieve a certain ideal body.”
- “You need to be fit and strong but also lean and feminine.”
- “You are too muscular” or “You don’t look like an athlete.”
These body image pressures can leave girls feeling self-conscious, distressed, anxious, and depressed. They also contribute to negative self-talk, disordered eating, and restrictive eating, and question their place in sports. Research notes approximately 60% of women in sports have had a coach, parent, or peer comment on their body.
Identity Struggles
Young athletes may feel their entire identity is tied to and defined by being an athlete which can create emotional strain and overwhelming pressure. As well as other challenges such as:
- Fear of Failure: If a girl believes her value is only in her athletic success, setbacks (like injuries or poor performance) can feel devastating, leading her to quit rather than risk not being good.
- Burnout: Over-committed to an athlete identity may lead to neglect in other interests, friendships, and passions. Over time, this lack of balance can lead to mental defeat.
- Struggles with Transition: As girls enter adolescence, they may question their future in sport. Without a strong sense of self outside of athletics, this uncertainty can sometimes make it difficult to navigate their place outside of sports.
Pressure from Coaches, Parents & Peers
Young female athletes may place a large emphasis on external validation. Feeling like their self-worth, confidence, and identity are linked to external validation from coaches, parents, and teammates. Relying on this validation and feeling like it is a determining factor of self-worth and identity may lead to self-doubt, making sports feel emotionally distressing.
Negative experiences with coaches such as verbal put-downs, punishment for mistakes, ignoring athletes when struggling, and displaying favoritism can contribute to anxiety, depression, self-doubt, low self-esteem, self-criticism, and lack of enjoyment.
Lack of Enjoyment
When the focus shifts from fun to performance, winning, and competition, sports can start to feel like a burden rather than an enjoyable activity.
- Constant pressure to perform and a fear of failure can take the joy out of playing.
- Negative experiences with coaches can contribute to anxiety, depression, self-criticism, and a lack of motivation.
Impact on Mental Health and Well-being
Through personal experience and research, these challenges and barriers faced by adolescent girls and women in sport can lead to various mental health concerns some including:
- Depression, anxiety, PTSD, poor body image, eating disorders, suicidal ideation, low self-esteem, perfectionism, identity crisis, decreased motivation, performance anxiety, and resentment towards sports.
How Therapy Can Support and Empower Girls in Sport
Therapeutic interventions can help girls navigate these challenges, foster resilience, and build confidence.
Self-compassion and Mindfulness
Therapy can help integrate mindfulness and self-compassion which are important tools in helping young female athletes build resilience and improve mental well-being.
Research has shown that among female athletes 13-18 years old, self-compassion was helpful in reducing shame, fear of failure, worry, self-doubt, fear of making mistakes, and negative self-talk. Self-compassion was linked with an increase in self-esteem, confidence, self-acceptance, and positive body image.
- Self-compassion has been linked to reducing the impact of coaching pressure, perfectionism, and distressing emotions related to performance.
- Mindfulness can help young female athletes gain a balanced perspective on training, performance, recovery, and relationships. Helping to reduce the pressure from coaches, parents, and peers.
- Through creating a healthier relationship with thoughts, feelings, and emotions, mindfulness supports athletes in coping with stress and pressure. This can reduce anxiety about making mistakes and promote a more accurate perception of their skills and abilities.
- Mindfulness can help encourage athletes to reframe setbacks as learning opportunities, recognizing them as a natural part of growth and human experience. This perspective fosters a sense of connection with others facing similar challenges, reducing feelings of isolation and building a strong support network.
- Mindfulness and self-compassion can help young female athletes develop a sense of self both within and outside of their sport.
How YOU Can Help Empower Young Girls in Sport
As parents, coaches, and counsellors, we all have a role in creating a supportive environment for female athletes. Here are some ways to help:
- Encourage girls to embrace their authentic selves without fear of judgment. Celebrate their strength, skill, and individuality.
- Shift the focus from outcomes to effort, learning, and personal development.
- Highlight stories of female athletes who embody resilience and perseverance, showing girls what’s possible.
- Foster environments where athletes feel comfortable, empowered, and accepted when sharing their struggles.
Empower her game and break down barriers!
If you’re a young athlete, parent of a young athlete, or anyone navigating the world of sports, understanding these challenges can help you create a healthier and more positive athletic experience.
Let’s work together to ensure that sports remain a place where girls feel strong, confident, and empowered. Learn more about adolescent counselling in Calgary and how our team at Solasta Counselling can support you.