Mental health and stress

Recruiting also comes with a lot of stress. According to a study published under Open Medical Publishing, a peer-reviewed journal, 91% of high school athletes experience some level of stress due to their sport. For those actively seeking to be recruited, these negative emotions can be extremely impactful, and they must find a way to deal with them effectively. 

“It’s stressful because there’s always a pressure to perform during games,” Yadavali said.

Yadavali chooses to pray each game before kickoff as a way to manage the pressure and play well. Praying helps him calm himself and allows him to focus on his individual attitude and effort rather than outside influences.

Similarly, Man also dealt with a lot of stress throughout the recruiting process.

“It was definitely a lot, just with school, and especially junior year, with the APs and honors classes stacking up on top of recruiting, it was a whole new level of stress. I went into a little bit of a recruiting slump where I was just done with it, and I didn’t want to do it anymore, but I pushed through,” Man said.

Being able to have other people who were going through the same process as him helped Man a lot, and a support system of family and friends, as well as fellow divers, was particularly important to him.

“Definitely having my teammates, and I was filling them in on stuff that I was going through. That definitely did help with that support system,” Man said. “I think just taking it one step at a time because it can be a lot in perspective. I think just honing in on every single text I sent or update was pretty helpful for me.”