Mental health, longevity and performance

What’s the story?

Eight years between international goals and six years between caps for Matilda’s forward Michelle Heyman is not down to a lack of effort or opportunity. In 2019 Heyman quit women’s soccer at the highest level. Feeling burnt out and in need of rest, she would have liked a year off to reset, but with that not being an option, Heynam took the difficult decision to retire from international football to ultimately safeguard her mental health. She returned to the Women’s A League in 2020 and was a recent surprise call up to the Australian women’s team for the 2024 Paris Olympic qualifiers. 

Despite the break from the Matildas, Heyman wasted no time in making her presence felt, scoring four goals in her first national team start in almost six years, including a 12-minute hattrick in the final qualifier against Uzbekistan. And unlike in 2019 when the stigma around mental health loomed large, Heyman has been happy to talk about her experiences, saying:

“When I retired I really needed a break and back in 2019 you couldn’t use the words, ‘mental health’. I needed time to be a human, not be a robot and being in the national team back then was a lot for your body. “Now I feel fitter, stronger and happier than what I was back then.”

The Team Code take

There is much to learn and reflect on from Heyman’s experiences, not only her personal courage in making a difficult and what at the time must have felt like a career-ending decision, but also a reminder of the pressure elite athletes face every day. With their identities intertwined with performance, and increasingly intense schedules, the recognition of, and support for, mental health in sport has never been more necessary. 

When it comes to athlete health, the focus has historically centered around physical wellness. Indeed, the recent Howden Men’s European football injury index 2022/23 mentions mental health (in relation to game time missed) exactly 0 times. The Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) EGM and Director Matti Clements made this point on the release of the Institute’s research into the mental health experiences of elite athletes: 

“Athletes are already screened across a range of metrics such as sleep, nutrition and injury and mental health should be treated no differently.

“We need to address the everyday wellness of our athletes rather than wait for a situation to reach crisis point and then intervene.”

The Team Code has seen some improvements in attitudes towards and perceptions of mental health in sport. Staying with football (soccer), there has been progress in recent years but a strong element of stigma remains. A recent study found that football players are not confident to speak about their issues within a club because of the potential consequences. The fear of being dropped, moved on or generally looked down on is ever-present in competitive cultures. 

While the women’s game is relatively young and can shape itself to be more progressive, the pressure to perform, the fear of injury and the unrelenting expectations of club and country means it is not immune to mental health issues. Heyman’s bravery in speaking out paves the way for more young athletes to be cognisant of mental health however the real responsibility for change lies with clubs, leagues and governing bodies. Leagues have a responsibility to manage the workloads of the elite players or there’s a chance there will be many future players who experience burnout. 

At club level, there’s a responsibility to build in periods of rest whenever possible. This doesn’t only mean physical rest, but often psychological rest and space to explore different parts of an athlete’s identity and specifically not having it solely rooted in sport or performance. As much as we may put our athletes on a pedestal, they are only human and need to be treated with humanity. This humanity should be central to club cultures and time should be provided for athletes to develop the bonds that enable them to talk openly about how they feel.

The pervasive belief that top players should be able to cope with whatever comes their way because they get paid so much money doesn’t withstand much scrutiny. Indeed, there is a growing understanding of the correlation between wealth and mental health and the pressures and lifestyle factors that high earners in any industry, not just sport, experience can put them at increased risk for mental health issues. 

Five years on from Michelle Heyman’s self-enforced break, the sporting world is getting better at talking about mental health, but it’s still not measured and we still see instances of it being dismissed with athletes being told to ‘get their head in the game’ or to ‘push through’. 

As Heyman has proved, you can come back from a break stronger than ever. We want real players with real lives, not robots. Sports have a crucial role to play in the positive evolution of social culture and athletes being able to talk about how they feel or access resources to help them process those feelings would be a great first step. 

Suggested Actions

1. Create space for mental health
   Clubs and leagues have to create new ways for athletes to access professional help and to make it a normal part of a training and playing schedule. 

2. Keep talking
   Along with Michelle Heyman, high profile athletes such as Simone Biles, Michael Phelps and Naomi Osaka have had the courage to talk publicly about their struggles, as did nine high profile NFL players. Making it easier for athletes to share their experiences and role model a positive attitude towards mental health is especially important for young athletes. 

3. Reframe taking a break
   The choice should not be between burnout or retirement. By normalising that sometimes athletes need to rest in order to come back stronger, expectations can be adjusted and the longevity of careers safeguarded.