Write your search in the input below and press enter.
Esc to close.

The Sports Doc Chalk Talk with Dr. Chris Stankovich

Peak Performance:
Not Just for Sports, for Life

  • Products
    • Toolkits
    • Audio
    • Videos
    • Books
    • Apps
  • Services
  • Chalk Talk
    • Recent
    • Athletes
    • Coaching
    • Sports Parenting
    • Sports Administrators
    • Life
    • Administrators
  • About Dr. Stankovich
  • Testimonials
  • Contact
  • Products
    • Toolkits
    • Audio
    • Books
    • Videos
    • Apps
  • Services
  • Chalk Talk
  • About Dr. Stankovich
  • Testimonials
  • Contact

Hello. Sign In

My Account
  • Login
  • Register
0
The Sports Doc Chalk Talk
Subscribe
The Sports Doc Chalk Talk with Dr. Chris Stankovich
  • Recent
  • Athletes
  • Coaching
  • Sports Parenting
  • Life
  • Administrators
Home / Blog / Healthy Strategies for Student Athletes Working to Overcome Adversity

Healthy Strategies for Student Athletes Working to Overcome Adversity

By: Dr. Chris Stankovich | @DrStankovich | Nov 02, 2020

No Comments

Experiencing a season ending injury. 

Unexpectedly being demoted from starting lineup. 

Learning that a failing grade has nullified athletic eligibility.

The examples above are scenarios student athletes commonly face, leaving them with extremely difficult and challenging decisions.  Do you succumb to the bad news, adopt a defeatist attitude, and engage in destructive behaviors?  Or do you accept the circumstances, roll up your sleeves, and throw down a personal challenge to overcome the adversity?  Attitude, unlike your eye color or height, is a choice, and when we choose to turn what appear to be life threats into healthier life challenges, only then can we cull and direct our energy toward healthy problem-solving.

After emotions settle, what do you choose?

When we first experience bad news, it makes sense to simply get the emotions out.  Sadness, anger, fear, and confusion are common examples of emotions we experience when dealing with adversity, and it’s not only OK to feel these things — but actually healthy to let these feelings flow.  In fact, psychologists call this catharsis, the process of releasing, and thereby providing relief from, strong emotions.  In lay-terms, this is the experience of “getting things off your chest,” and we generally feel better after catharsis.  But while getting feelings out immediately following adversity is fine, but what do you do after that?

Sadly, some student athletes never get past the immediate emotions that follow an injury, loss of starting role, or failing grade that left them ineligible.  In these examples, as you might imagine, recovering from the adversity becomes prolonged — and in some cases the situation is never improved upon.  So what should you do following the initial emotional experience?

A more successful approach…

Yes, the easy way to go when adversity hits is to feel sorry for yourself, and blame others for your misfortune.  This is easy as it requires little energy, and doesn’t include any true soul-searching to change future thinking and behaviors in hopes of a better future result.   Instead, pointing outward and shifting responsibility to other people and things provides temporary comfort — but no real, measurable human growth.  A better, healthier response to dealing with adversity might include the following:

  • Let emotions exhaust.  As was mentioned earlier, take a day or two to work through the emotions but don’t stay there!   After experiencing catharsis, there really is no healthy reason to camp out with emotions like anger and resentment when your energy can be re-directed toward healthier thoughts and behaviors.
  • Examine the situation rationally.  Yes, you may have been given a tough break, but so has everyone else at various points in life.  You are not unique in that bad fortune only follows you, nor are you a victim.  What you are, in fact, is human!  Injuries can be overcome, regaining a starting position is possible, and improving poor grades at school can happen in the future with a good attitude and better study skills.
  • Create challenges from your circumstances.  Rather than succumb to sadness and feeling sorry for yourself, why not throw down a challenge?  Injured athletes can become determined to work hard in physical therapy, demoted athletes can train harder to regain their old spot, and athletes with poor grades can seek outside academic assistance to learn new study skills.
  • Set goals, measure progress, and use positive reinforcement.  As you work through personal challenges, set specific, measurable, controllable goals and track your progress daily.  Not only will you “see” your improvement right before your own eyes, but your confidence for future success will improve as well.

Final thoughts

How you identify and respond to life setbacks will make all the difference when it comes to the outcomes you experience.  Embrace the role of victim, and mediocre behaviors will follow.  Choose to take your adversity on as a life challenge, and an entirely different (and healthy) mindset will follow, triggering positive problem-solving behaviors.  What choice will you make?

drstankovich.com

athletes, attitude, injury, mental, psychology, sport, Stress, toughness

  • Author
  • Comments
  • Details
Get to Know the Author

Dr. Chris Stankovich

Dr. Stankovich has written/co-written five books, including Positive Transitions for Student Athletes, The ParentsPlaybook, Mind of Steel.

Latest Blog Posts

  • May 6, 2025 Beyond the Numbers: How Overusing Sport Analytics Can Undermine Expert Judgment
  • April 21, 2025 Juggling Sports and Schedules: The Hidden Costs of Playing Multiple Sports
  • April 17, 2025 Earning Power: College Athletes Aren’t Greedy, They’re Just No Longer Free Labor
  • April 16, 2025 Decoding Intuition: What Happens When We Follow Our Inner Compass?
  • April 8, 2025 Precision, Purpose, Performance: The Psychology of Efficiency in Success

PREVIOUS POST

Taking a Closer Look at How Student Athletes are Managing Pandemic-Stress & Sports

NEXT POST

Examining the Modern Day Challenges of Sport Team Nicknames

Category

Athletes , Coach , Emotional Intelligence , health psychology , Mental Toughness , Parent Training , Sport Psychology , Sports Parenting , Uncategorized , Youth Sports

Tags

athletes, attitude, injury, mental, psychology, sport, Stress, toughness

  • Recent Posts
  • Most Read
  • Beyond the Numbers: How Overusing Sport Analytics Can Undermine Expert Judgment
  • Juggling Sports and Schedules: The Hidden Costs of Playing Multiple Sports
  • Earning Power: College Athletes Aren’t Greedy, They’re Just No Longer Free Labor
  • Decoding Intuition: What Happens When We Follow Our Inner Compass?
  • Precision, Purpose, Performance: The Psychology of Efficiency in Success
  • The Importance of Passion & Purpose for Sport Success
  • How Human Arousal Impacts Sport Performance
  • Bouncing Back: How Coaches Can Help Kids Learn from a Tough Loss
  • Learn Sports Fear Reduction with these 5 Psychology Tips
  • Why Does Your Kid Play Great in Practice, but Not in Games?
  • The Sports Doc on TV

    Catch Dr. Stankovich’s tv, radio, and print interviews and columns here!

    Dr. Chris Stankovich Watch Videos
  • Sport Performance Assessment

    Dr. Chris Stankovich Quickly and accurately test your level of mental toughness in just a few minutes using the Sport Performance Assessment.

    (SPA), an easy-to-use sport psychology system specially designed to help you REACH YOUR FULL ATHLETIC POTENTIAL.

    learn more
  • SportsSuccess360

    Life strategies for performance and character development for coaches, parents, and student athletes competing in youth and interscholastic sports.

    Life Strategies learn more
  • Contact Dr. Stankovich

    1207 Grandview Ave., Suite #218, Columbus, OH 43212

    (614) 561-4482

    Media & General Inquiries

    information@drstankovich.com

    Sales & Product Support

    sales@drstankovich.com

  • About Dr. Stankovich

    • Media
    • Blog
    • Testimonials
  • Products

    • Toolkits
    • Videos
    • Books
    • Audio
    • iPhone Apps
  • Services

    • Athlete Performance Training
    • Parent Community Forum
    • Coach Education & Development
    • Athletic Crisis Response and Intervention
    • Drug & Alcohol Assessment
    • Life Success Programs
    • Counseling & Consulting Services
  • Blog
  • YouTube
  • twitter
  • facebook

All rights reserved © 2025 Advanced Human Performance Systems™

↓ ↓