Impact of Class for Mental Health in High School Football

Impact of Class for Mental Health in High School Football

High school football is one of the most popular sports to play at the high school level of athletics. During the 2023-24 season, there are around 1,031,508 boys that participate in this level of football, and the number of participants is growing exponentially each season (Statista, 2024). This highlights the importance of keeping up and maintaining values that benefit these athletes and prepare them for their future careers. Currently, the high school level of football is being plagued with players who struggle through mental issues caused by injuries, teachings of poor coaching techniques and mentalities, and class structure affecting access and number of resources available. The focus of these class stereotypes showcases what male football players face throughout their development, where they grow up, the class structure in these environments, the effects of masculinity being taught in programs and school, and player status within teams. Diving into this level of football is crucial to understanding where mental health issues are beginning and working towards ways to solve and correct the teachings in youth sports and schools and how class affects the livelihood and access to resources for the athletes. High school athletics is not often a space where athletes can open up about their mental health. How athletes manage their mental health can largely depend on socioeconomic status and gender. For the purpose of this project, we will primarily target class, however, gender will be discussed as a part of athletic identity. With these issues being spoken about in youth sports and schools, it is also crucial to look into the high schools that have historically hosted top prospects and compare them to other top schools with more funding through redlining and its effect on students of different class structures. This shows the difference between class structures from redlined areas and highly funded areas to give a sense of the amount of opportunities and resources that different schools have access to. The goal of this project is to find solutions to the issues between these class structures and give high school football players the same opportunities and resources to help battle mental health issues beginning to form to help prepare them for the future of their careers.