Bump or Spike: An Analytical View Inside the Mind of a Collegiate Volleyball Team
摘要
Recently, collegiate sports have expressed an increased concern for mental health in athletes. The original hypothesis going into this study was that mental health has a negative effect on volleyball performance. In order to dissect how mental health may affect performance, the author gathered data and statistics from the Seton Hill women’s volleyball team. Athletes were asked to fill out a daily survey on their mental health, on a scale of 1–5, 1 being the lowest and 5 being the highest. Also, there was an end of the year survey which gave conclusive results on the overall season and showed different progressions of athletes and factors affecting their play and mental health. Along with this data, performance statistics were collected to determine various correlations and results establishing the significance of mental health in athletes. The purpose of this chapter is to form results to raise awareness of the mental health struggles student athletes face, with the Seton Hill women’s volleyball team as the primary example. There is hope for the future to improve the mental health of student athletes, which will benefit a team’s strategies, stability, and overall success.