Timeout: Tumble or stumble

Athena Markowski | Social Media Editor

Jessica Langer | Lantern TV Campus Producer

After four-time Olympic gold medalist Simone Biles’ historic withdrawal from events during the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, The Lantern is sitting down with Ohio State student-athletes to discuss the mental strain of juggling academics and athletics.

When 6-year-old Justin Ah Chow first stepped onto the gymnastics mat, his parents mainly hoped it would serve as an outlet for his energy.

Initially training as the only boy in his youth gymnastics program, he tumbled into his first cartwheels and handsprings, advancing so quickly his coaches encouraged him to join a full-fledged men’s team.

From then on, his life revolved around gymnastics. He moved to Miami to train at Universal Gymnastics, home of three-time Olympic medalist Danell Leyva and Olympic coach Yin Alvarez, and enrolled in online school to spend more time at the gym.

Through his dedication to the sport, Ah Chow is now a two-time national champion and four-time national team member.

Still, bad days are unavoidable in gymnastics. The sport is scored based on perfection, combining the difficulty of the skill with the execution by the gymnast. With the goal of attaining perfection in mind, bad days — physically or mentally — can add extra weight onto an athlete’s shoulders.

To achieve that perfection, Ah Chow has a 5:25 a.m. wake-up call then heads right into weightlifting, followed by breakfast and class until it’s time to head to a three-hour practice. Ending the day with dinner, homework and limited relaxation time, the intensity of his routine leaves little room for bad days, especially when competition season looms.

“You can train amazingly during the week and you can have a terrible competition,” Ah Chow said. “That’s what sucks, because I work so hard, and you have one moment to shine and it doesn’t go the way you want, so it has a mental toll.”

On those bad days, Ah Chow sought encouragement from one person: his mom. A former gymnast herself, she would slip uplifting notes inside his gym bag –– the phrase that stuck with him the most was “When you fall, get up and do better.”

“That’s the only thing you can do. In gymnastics, when you fall, what else can you do?” he said. “You already fell, it’s in the past; you got to move on. When I have those off days, I just try and go in the next day and do better, even if it’s like the smallest step.”

Ah Chow emphasized that if a gymnast’s mind and body are not aligned, the likelihood of injury is higher, speaking to the fear Olympian Simone Biles experienced during the 2021 Tokyo Olympics.

Biles withdrew from the Olympic all-around, floor exercise, vault, uneven bars and team competitions for her mental health. She attributed her condition to “twisties,” in which she felt her mind and body were disconnected and was uncertain of where she would land her skill, according to The Washington Post.

Junior all-around Justin Ah Chow practices on the pommel horse during fall practice Nov. 3.

Credit: Mackenzie Shanklin | Photo Editor

Mental health by the numbers

A 2019 NCAA study on the experience of student-athletes reported Division I athletes spend an average of 33 hours per week on athletics, while 35.5 are devoted to school. Sleep accounts for just six hours and 15 minutes of their day, on average.

Ah Chow said creating a boundary between his work as a student and as an athlete has been important in keeping both parts of his life in check.

“If you don’t have your priorities in line, something’s going to be off — you’re not going to get enough time in the gym, or you’re not going to have good grades,” he said. “In your free time, it’s going to be academics, no matter what. When you’re in the gym, you just think about the gym. Get your mind set on that and just work.”

Sports psychologist and member of the Ohio State’s 2001 NCAA Championships gymnastics team James Houle said athletes are exposed to the same mental stressors as non-student-athletes, yet the contributing factors of those stressors become unique.

On top of the pressure to perform well academically, athletes hold the weight of national titles and championships on their shoulders, creating another layer of anxiety in their lives. For both students and student-athletes, Houle said anxiety is the No. 1 presenting concern.

“The NCAA talked about athletics being basically a full-time job in addition to going to school full time, so there can be a lot of anxiety associated with performing at high levels at all those different requirements,” he said.

Ohio State’s commitment to excellence

The men’s gymnastics team will officially open the regular season January 2022 at the Windy City Invite –– yet practice began in early October. Ah Chow said while gymnastics is technically a winter sport, the team preps year-round, meaning they need to be physically and mentally ready at all times.

The year-round demand is tolling for Ah Chow, but success reminds him why he continues with the sport.

“Gymnastics does this to you; you fall more times than you succeed. I have tried to quit multiple times, but it’s impossible to stay away from the sport,” he said. “I love the sport. It’s a love-hate relationship, but when you succeed, it’s an amazing feeling and I can’t escape it.”

Credit: Mackenzie Shanklin | Photo Editor

Houle said given the high profile of Ohio State athletics, athletes feel pressured to carry on the legacy in dominating at the conference and national level.

“The expectations are not just to win but, you know, we’re looking at championship titles, Big Ten titles and national titles,” he said. “What I’ll say about that is a lot of the student-athletes, that’s why they come here, and so they understand it. But understanding conceptually is one thing. Understanding it in real life is another thing.”

Ah Chow is one of the team’s three all-around competitors, meaning he competes in all six events in every competition. With his scores counting for a fifth of the team score, Ah Chow said he bears a heavy weight every time he enters the competition floor.

“On my own shoulders, it’s a lot of pressure because not only do they have expectations for me to hit, but I count as a lot,” he said. “If I fall, I have a pretty big impact on the team score. It’s an enormous amount of pressure because not only do they have expectations for me, but I know people are fighting for that spot to compete.”

Resources for continued success

Redshirt freshman Jadon Roberson said the sports psychologists are one of the most valuable resources available for student-athletes seeking mental health care. As part of the Department of Athletics, the sports psychologists’ main goal is to provide a safe space for mental healing.

“They bring me back into the real world,” Roberson said. “Sometimes in the gym, after practice, I get into this mode of, ‘I suck.’ What my teammates and what the sports psychologists do is they’re like, ‘Okay, Jadon, you’re here, right? Now, let’s bring you back out of that.’ The support is there so I can go back into the gym another day and work my butt off.”

Alongside sports psychologists, the Student Athlete Support Services Office provides athletes with academic support from tutoring services to academic advising.

“Sometimes I just need someone to talk to who isn’t on the team, who aren’t the coaches, who isn’t related,” Ah Chow said. “That person is the sport psychologist, for me.”

Outside of Ohio State, the Big Ten created a Mental Health and Wellness Cabinet in May 2020 with the goal of promoting mental health advocacy for students.

Both Ah Chow and Roberson said their team, coaches, the university and their personal support systems play an integral role in supporting their mental health. While they still feel immense pressure as student-athletes to perform at high levels, they said they recognize the investment they’ve made in themselves has improved both their sport and psyche.

Roberson said improving individually also impacts team performance. As the gymnasts compete individually and for the team, they go through similar experiences which create a deeper bond in their shared brotherhood.

“It’s not an individual thing in that aspect. We’re all sick, we’re all tired and we all don’t really want to do this, but we know we have to do this,” Roberson said. “So that collective struggle, the collective hurt that we feel, it just brings us close and helps us move together.”

As the season looms closer, pressure will undoubtedly rise for the team. While physically and mentaly tolling, Ah Chow plans to follow the wise words of his mother: get up and do better.

“When you hit that lowest point, you can’t go any lower,” he said. “I feel like I’ve already hit that point, so I’m just going up and up and up.”

Words by Athena Markowski and Jessica Langer

Video by Jessica Langer, Athena Markowski and Maya Neyman

Web Design and Infographic by Marcus Horton

Artwork by Marcy Paredes