The role of sports goes beyond the body, it's for the mind too

How sports are helping athletes be happier

The Ottawa Senators take the ice for warmups vs. the Vancouver Canucks.

One of Joachim Powell’s first memories was watching the 2010 NBA finals as a four year old. He remembers his mom introducing him to basketball, and he remembers watching the Boston Celtics and Los Angeles Lakers battling to become the best in basketball.

As Powell grew older, one thing never changed: his love for sport.

But now, Powell is realizing how he can use sports to better his mental health and his sense of self, following the guidance from his favourite athletes.

“My relationship with sports is something that constantly motivates me when you see champions and you see people changing lives of those around them … I’d like the chance to do that someday,” said Powell.

In the fall of 2017, Kevin Love suffered a panic attack during an NBA game. But no one knew.

It was only after Love wrote an article in The Players’ Tribune detailing his experiences with mental health, that the world found out.

On Feb. 17, 2018, at 3:06 a.m., then-Raptors guard DeMar DeRozan posted a cryptic tweet saying, “This depression get the best of me…”

The next morning DeRozan woke up to an outpour of texts and calls from people checking up on him. Following his original tweet, DeRozan felt more comfortable opening up about his struggles, just like Love.

"I didn't know it would lead into all this. But it was something that was obviously needed, not just for myself, but for the world in a sense," DeRozan told The Current.

In an interview with ESPN in 2022, Love said DeRozan’s post saved his life. 

Athletes like Love and DeRozan envisioned a time where sports could be used to uplift people instead of forcing them to push away these feelings. The former all-stars hoped to shift the conversation about mental health in sports towards a positive light.

“Mental health isn't just an athlete thing. What you do for a living doesn't have to define who you are. This is an everyone thing,” Love told The Players’ Tribune.

Thirty-five per cent of elite athletes have mental health concerns, including depression, anxiety and feelings of burnout as their main concerns, a 2019 study by the British Journal of Sports Medicine found.

From basketball to martial arts, Powell has been involved in sports since he was a kid.

During the summer of 2023 before he turned 18, Powell earned a black belt in karate.

Powell and his friends often joked about flashing his blackbelt as he walked through the halls as a college freshman.

He finds earning the prestigious honour so young taught him valuable lessons, but it also came with added pressure from his family.

“There was a period where I was doing it more because the people around me wanted (me) to do it than me actually enjoying it,” said Powell.

He even felt pressure from his younger self because earning a blackbelt was something he dreamt of since he was a child.

“I told myself when I was eight years old ‘you’re (going to) get this black belt. That’s the goal,’” said Powell.

But once Powell completed his martial arts training and received his blackbelt, he felt a sense of accomplishment because of the amount of sacrifice he put into his craft.

“It was the culmination of everything I’ve really worked for the last 11 years. I put my own money towards it (and) I put a lot of time towards it, he said.

“It was the biggest thing in (my) life so far. That’s also a lesson in life when you’re working to more illustrious goals you (have to) wait your turn and continue to put in the work. It’s not an overnight thing.”

Powell also said being a fan of professional sports has helped improve his mental health. He also learned lessons he could carry with him on his martial arts journey.

“The more I began watching, I (wondered) how it felt to be at the peak of your field,” said Powell.

“(Watching sports) was inspiring just (for) life in general (because) whatever you do, you can be the best at it.”

Tanya Richman, a clinical counsellor with the Canadian Sport Psychology Association, said being part of something bigger than yourself, like a sports team, improves mental health.

“(Sport) is a great avenue for strength and stability in our life … (having) a team that supports you helps our connection to joy,” said Richman.

Growing up in California, Powell watched from the couch as his Golden State Warriors won four NBA championships from 2015 to 2022.

He’s also a fan of his hometown Baltimore Ravens. Although he never saw them win a Super Bowl, Powell watched star quarterback Lamar Jackson win two regular season MVPs in 2019 and 2023.

“It gives you something to look forward to. You could have a terrible day and then there’s this matchup that’s fun. (If) it’s a great game, you’re like ‘wow, I needed to see that,’” he said.

Powell also said something as simple as asking a classmate about a recent game builds unity with others around him.

“It’s like ‘oh, you’re a Warriors fan? Where were you when this game happened?’”

Powell also credits sports for helping him find his passion as a sports writer. Now he’s going to school with the goal of being a sports journalist when he graduates.

“At the lower points in my life when I was grieving a lot, (sports writing) was something to say I woke up and did something,” said Powell.

Ayden Kharod has been skating for as long as he can remember.

An avid Los Angeles Kings fan, following his father, he is involved with hockey every day.

As a player, Kharod has lost games and won games, but hockey has always been the one constant to keep him grounded.

Just like Powell, Kharod said he enjoys playing sports but the cons sometimes outweigh the pros, particularly playing as a goalie.

“If the team did well but we lost, I would bring that mindset home (because) we lost because of my mistake,” he said.

But Kharod said hockey made him feel more confident about himself because of the performances he had. No matter what happened outside the rink, he said entering the ice always gave him a morale boost because of the comradery with his teammates.

“(After) I had a (bad) shift at work … I played (hockey) and I honestly felt more energy for that game than I did starting my shift,” he said.

“The feeling that you get of it’s not just you helping yourself but you’re bonding with the people you’re playing with.”