By: Jacob Daheim, MA

Who am I?

It is a question as old as time and something we are always trying to answer. For most people, answering this question can be tricky because we have so many important roles to juggle: like being a student, an athlete, a performer, a brother, a son, and a friend. The roles we play don’t just impact how other people see us. They impact how we see ourselves.

Sometimes, we call the different roles we play in our life “identities” because they identify what we care about to other people. Think about the way that we introduce ourselves to a stranger. Maybe we start with our name and then share some of our identities. We might say, “Hi my name is Jacob.” “I am a college student” or “I write for the school news paper.” Sharing our identities can let others know what we think is important and what we have in common with others. An athletic identity is just a type of identity that tells other people about your role in sports, like saying: “I am a basketball player” or even more specific, “ I am a point guard.” We can also non-verbally communicate our athletic identity by the clothes we wear, the places we spend our time, the television we watch, the books we read, and the people with whom we spend our time.

Benefits of Athletic Identity

There are so many benefits linked to having a strong athletic identity. An athletic identity can make it easier for us to find friends with similar interests. It can help us feel more motivated and energized to put in the time and effort for success. A strong athletic identity can also help us feel more accomplished and capable. Research also shows that a strong athletic identity can be linked to:

1. High self-esteem: We have a deep sense of knowing who we are and feel comfortable with ourselves.

2. High self-confidence: We feel more trust in our abilities.

Potential Risks of Only Seeing Ourselves as Athletes

Although there are great things that come with a strong athletic identity, we need to be aware of problems can pop up when we only see ourselves as athletes:

1. Most athletes suffer from at least one injury across their career. Athletic injuries can range from nagging inflammation to acute breaks or tears in muscles and bones. Injury is a risk most athletes take on willingly - we know that it is just part of the job. But if we only see ourselves as athletes, being medically pulled from our sport can put us at higher risk of severe frustration, disappointment, and mental health concerns. Athletes who have a variety of interests outside of their sport are more protected from painful emotions during the injury recovery process.

2. Most athletes are responsible for things outside their sport, like school, chores, work, extra curriculars, and family obligations. If we only see ourselves as athletes, we might not take care of our other responsibilities and this can cause problems with grades, getting behind on to-do lists, or letting other people down. All of these problems can increase our stress levels, which can then impact our focus and performance during practice.

3. If our self-worth gets too wrapped up in our athletic identity, we might only see ourselves as valuable and worthy when we are the best at our sport. This can cause problems when there are unexpected drops in performance or when we face a new competitor who out performs us that day. It can be so helpful to have things in our life outside of sport that help us feel important so we can be protect us on bad days.

4. If we focus all of our energy on sports, we might miss out on other things in our life that are important to us. We may end up accidentally neglecting our other life roles of being a friend, partner, daughter, or mother. Neglecting important relationships can make us feel disconnected, isolated, and even guilty. We might also ignore our other interests and hobbies which can lead to feeling less rested and restored in our off time. Relationship problems and struggling to find emotional recovery could actually negatively impact our sports performance.

5. A global pandemic. This one is pretty self-explanatory as many of us have experienced the loss of practice, competition, and entire athletic seasons. For those of us who have overly strong athletic identities, we might have found it hard to transition from our very busy sport schedule to having absolutely nothing to do. This is one of those situations where relationships, hobbies, and other interests can be protective against emotional pain.

6. We also often forget that our athletic careers will not last forever – no one likes to think about this. Regardless of if we go on to play in college or even the pros, our sport’s career will end at some point. At the end of career, many athletes are left with the aching thought, “so what now?” and “who am I?” If our athletic identify is the only important thing about us, we will probably have a hard time letting go. Without sports, what do I do?, what do I find enjoyment in?, if I am not an athlete anymore, who am I?...

So What Can We Do

If you are worried that you might be too focused on your athletic identity, here are some simple things you can try:

1. List your top 5 priorities outside of sport then find ways to add those priorities to your schedule in small and realistic ways. The goal is balance.

   • Example: finding an hour every week spend quality time with your family.

2. Have hobbies or find enjoyments outside of sports

   • Examples: art, reading, cooking, gardening, chess, playing music

3. Protect your private time by scheduling a time in the week that is just for you

   • Example: 30 minutes just for you on Sundays for self care

These are just a quick few tips to get your thoughts going. Providers at Tackett and Bradstreet can help you go more in depth and explore this question of “who am I.”

Quote of the Day: "I am more than an athlete."

– Lebron James –

Joke of the Day: I was wondering why the ball was getting bigger… Then it hit me.