Recognizing Eating Disorders In Your Young Athletes
Andy looked frail and he couldn’t find space on offense for a jumper. He had 22 in our last contest with #1 Plantsville, but that seemed impossible today. He turned the ball over twice on consecutive possessions and then Plantville’s #15 easily wrestled the ball from Andy at half-court for a third. Our best player, our toughest player and most improved - he wasn’t just coming off the flu as mom thought. He was on the verge of a heart attack, and with 2:16 left in the first quarter, no one knew it.
Andy's heart rate had hit a dangerously low level according to his pediatrician one day later. He hadn't been eating enough and his heart couldn't handle it. I was distraught to be honest. I had put the kid out on the court. Fortunately he made it to the hospital in time and spent 2 weeks in intensive care. He's now back home and in counseling to help him recover. Andy has had to deal with a collection of challenges sometimes underappreciated in young kids - changes in family dynamics, the loss years ago of his dad, the love of basketball and the desire to be the best, to be the fittest, but almost at a tragic cost. He's on the road back but it may be a long one. When he returns to middle school soon I wonder how education will fit into Andy's recovery. So much of the message in school today is about healthy eating, avoiding sugars, 'watching what you eat.' So much of what Andy will hear and see from kids - their words, their clothes, their eating habits - will no doubt force him to juggle that which he is learning is right to be healthy, and push down what he knows could put him back in the hospital. He needs to find a balance I suppose, to find a space he's comfortable in. Sort of like basketball.
“I didn’t see it - I knew he wasn’t eating and wasn’t himself on the court, but I didn’t see it. I should have seen it. I don’t know what would have happened if I kept him in that game…”
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In a study with 1,356 parents and teens nationally over 15 years from 22 states we found that roughly 1 in 5 have had children who, after getting cut from their high school sports team or feeling the pressure from travel sports in middle school, started dealing with depression, anxiety or other riskier behaviors such as substance abuse or an eating disorder. There are solutions cropping up in many communities, most focused on younger populations, but in some school districts there is a significant gap in programs that can fill a similar need for student-athletes who have spent 10+ years in many cases playing 'competitive' sports.
'Getting cut is one thing, but when all you've done is compete in youth sports for most of your life, it's hard to replace that and without that outlet, kids are hurting, in some cases losing an identity,' says therapist Ron Prose of Michigan.
The impact spans young teens all the way up to young adults - the 12-year-old trying to make dad proud by going from bench to starter on a travel soccer team, the 14-year-old trying to get more playing time on the “A” hoops team, the 18-year-old whose scholarship is on the line. The disorder, for athletes, is a function often times of the behavior of adults who push wins over losses.
My own dad has worked with college athletes who present to physical therapy with knee or shoulder pain, but who don’t have any muskuloskeletal issues whatsover. They are dealing with an eating disorder, which creates a host of symptoms and coaches and trainers and teammates think it must be an “injury”.
Susan Matai, who has worked as an administrator at a high school in New Mexico, says part of the challenge is a lack of alternative “rec” programs that promote competition but fun for teens who aren’t on varsity or travel teams. The only physical education available before or after school in her area is organized sports or travel and elite programs that tend to put pressure on kids. Some can excel, many cannot. 'It is greatly encouraged at this school that students be involved, but there are limits as to how many can be on the teams and there are no other outlets available.'“
If there’s a lesson to administrators and coaches - and parents - it’s to take a closer look at the value of travel sports programs, the true goals for coaches, and at a minimum to be aware of the signs of disorders that put kids like Andy at the brink of losing a heart beat. -BC