By Anthony Gutierrez, April 29, 2025
In 2022, Red Sox outfielder Jarren Duran was going through the worst slump of his career, struggling to meet expectations and making defensive errors consistently.
Duran, a 25-year-old who was in his second year, was losing confidence day by day, and receiving negative feedback from his home fans, booing him strikeout after strikeout, and every time he committed an error on the field.
Mental health among athletes is an often-overlooked issue, especially since athletes are seen as fierce competitors and labeled strong and hard-headed. But athletes are people, too, with feelings and internal struggles — just like everybody else. Athletes are still capable of feeling anxiety, depression and feelings of burning out; they’re not immune to it.
In episode four of “The Clubhouse: A Year with the Red Sox,” a new docuseries released by Netflix, the focus aims on Duran’s internal struggles and how he handled all the criticism.
Duran opened up about his mental health struggles despite his dream to become a professional athlete came to fruition. He shared the many struggles his contemporaries go through that fans don’t see.
“I was already hearing it from fans,” Duran said in the docuseries. “I’ve told myself 10 times worse in the mirror. That was a really tough time for me. I didn’t even want to be here anymore.”
Many athletes have experienced stories like these, but only a few are pushed to a breaking point, vulnerable enough to speak out. Some fear opening up will come off as an excuse for their problems on the field, and not many would understand them.
Athletes should feel comfortable being open to those around them without fear of being criticized or misunderstood. Some cases are much more complicated than others and may require extensive attention and focus, but they shouldn’t feel scared to take that bold step of acknowledging help is necessary.
Elijah Ramos, a kinesiology student at Cal Poly Pomona, said there is a lot of unseen pressure athletes internally deal with.
“Mental health is just as important as physical health,” Ramos said. “You can’t perform at your best if you’re not right mentally.”
Expectations of perfection, training overload, fear of failure and personal standards are just a couple factors to name that contribute toward an athlete’s mental health decline. Whether it comes to basketball, baseball, football, soccer or any other sport, the factors don’t often change as on-field performance is heavily correlated with an athlete’s state of mind.
Mental health services weren’t always an outlet for those struggling with mental health, but in recent years, professional leagues like the NBA, which launched its Mind Health program in 2018, have taken it more seriously. The NBA Mind Health program supports players, coaches and referees by offering access to licensed professionals, and it serves as the league’s initiative for attacking this silenced issue.
An 2023 article from The Athletic dives deep into how NBA players still fear opening up about their mental health, as many believe they’ll be seen as weak or judged. It was stated that several organizations declined to comply with the recommended mental health checkups due to “fears they would surrender a competitive advantage.”
Netflix also produced several documentaries and docuseries that addressed mental health struggles tennis players deal with when on tour including Naomi Osaka, Paula Badosa, Maria Sakkari and Mary Fish, to name a few. Current WTA number 2 Iga Swiatek travels with her sports psychologist Daria Abramowicz who became a part of Swiatek’s team in 2019.
Athletes on a professional level have addressed the mental health issues more directly in recent years, but college athletes face more unique challenges.
College athletes are expected to be perfect in their sports all while managing different growing areas in their lives. These athletes are still developing outside of the field by managing their transition to college, full load of courses, social life and implemented workouts for their athletics.
They often experience intense anxiety and feelings of burnout. Personal struggles are, in most cases, not prioritized due to their heavy schedules. Their own mental health should be seen just as important as their training and academics.
According to a study conducted by the NCAA in 2023, many athletes who participated in the study said they experienced feelings of stress, anxiety and mental exhaustion. They talked about many factors including academic worries, family worries, financial worries, team environment, coach relationship and feeling lost.
Feeling lost in a boatload of responsibilities as a college athlete is something many can relate to, but only a few feel comfortable talking about this issue. College athletes are also students. They’re expected to maintain grades, balance a social life and show up to early workouts — all while silencing their mental health battles.
Pushing struggles as great as these to the side isn’t something that should be seen as the right thing to do but as an opportunity to attack head-on using the right resources and help.
Being scared of opening up is expected, but it shouldn’t be seen as a sign of weakness; it should be seen as a sign of courage. Duran did an excellent job of this. He used his platform to spread awareness to those who suffer in silence. He was also very unfiltered in sharing his experience and stories, showcasing the vulnerability athletes shouldn’t be afraid to show.
Stereotypical concepts about athletes, especially in the men’s sports, on how they must tough out their off-the-field struggles is simply outdated, and they should deal with their problems with no judgement from those around them. Vulnerability isn’t weakness. It’s strength.
Feature image by Connor Lālea Hampton
