24 SCIENCE NEWS | January 29, 2022
LOIC VENANCE/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGESFEATURE
O
n yellow poster board, blue letters spell
BELIEVE, a nod to the Emmy-winning
TV show Ted Lasso. The sign hangs
above psychologist Tommy Minkler’s
office door at West Virginia University, a reminder
to trust in the work he’s doing to help elite athletes.
In the show, Lasso, an American football coach,
is recruited to head an English football team.
His experience coaching American football, an
utterly different game than soccer, leaves him
lacking overseas, so he relies on his positive atti-
tude and folksy charm to bond with his players. On
his first day coaching, Lasso posts the BELIEVE
sign above his office door. The team often rallies
around the sign just before hitting the field.
But belief alone can’t get athletes to the goal
when they run into the psychological speed
bumps or full-on roadblocks that can arise during
training and competition. When Lasso’s strikerDani Rojas faced the yips — suddenly unable to
nail his usually flawless penalty kicks — a therapist
was called in. In real life, when the twisties hit
U.S. gymnast Simone Biles at last summer’s
Olympics in Tokyo, she withdrew from five of six
event finals. Biles’ mental block was petrifying; one
wrong move on the uneven bars or a failed flip on
the balance beam could cause a devastating injury,
or even death. Her decision to withdraw from com-
petition after years of intense training shocked the
world, from commentators to armchair athletes.
Elite athletes are expected to be unflappable.
Admitting vulnerability is “so fundamentally at
odds with being a competitor,” retired U.S. figure
skater Sasha Cohen, who won a silver medal at
the 2006 Winter Olympics, explained in the 2020
HBO documentary The Weight of Gold. Sport is war.
Competing at the elite level requires strategy and
posturing. “You need to show the world you areElite athletes need support to manage anxiety, depression and
other mental health challenges By Ashley Yeager
MENTMENTAL AL
gymnastics
U.S. Olympian Simone Biles
and other elite athletes are
prioritizing mental health.
Over the last decade,
researchers have identified
some tools to help competitors
on and off the field.