Sports fans know the dizzying highs and terrifying lows that come with being a fan. They know the way fandom consumes one’s being and leaves them elated one minute and incredulous the next. Fans live out their imaginative pipe dreams as general managers, fictitiously manipulating their team’s roster and coaching staff to their every whim. It fills them with delusions of grandeur that they, and only they, understand what is best for their favorite team or player, leading them to view all other opinions and perspectives as unfit for consideration. This has only been exacerbated by the advent of social media. And for the average fan, all of this occurs within the convenient confines of their devices, making it easy for fans to scrutinize with the changing winds. What’s forgotten, however, is the mental toll that this scrutiny can have on professionals in the industry.
Recognizing that scrutiny can be damaging to anyone is fairly easy, but I set out to try to understand the extent to which these players see the scrutiny and how exactly they cope with it.
All season, I’ve asked players and coaches from across the W a pair of seemingly simple questions: With expanded coverage and awareness coming to women’s basketball also comes greater scrutiny from the outside world. What mental toll does that scrutiny take, and what should players and coaches do about it?
This is what I learned.
Control What You Can Control
Many players can feel that outside pressure, the Indiana Fever’s Aliyah Boston told me, and it can be somewhat debilitating. “You expect a lot out of yourself, and you have the outside noise. Especially the minute something doesn’t go your way, it’s like comment here, comment there,” Boston said. But one of the most common responses I’ve heard from people within the league is that focusing on controlling what you can control is imperative. New York Liberty head coach Sandy Brondello said, “You have to block out the outside noise and focus on what you can control.” Connecticut Sun head coach Stephanie White echoed this statement: “We can’t control what people are going to say or talk about.” Many coaches and players throughout the league offered similar advice. “You need to focus on what you can do, personally, and continue to be the best version of yourself on the court, off the court,” 2023 rookie Ashley Joens told me. What’s clear is that one of the key things people in the league do to help their mental health is remind themselves that people are going to say a lot of words that don’t often hold any actual meaning or significance. Minnesota Lynx head coach Cheryl Reeve shared, “But more than anything, we always talk about control what you can control. You can never worry about what someone else thinks. In anything you do, you have to be you and do what you know to be right.”
That sage advice about being you and not letting others influence your thinking is like a chain that links our individual worlds together. It is a way of thinking that almost anyone can apply almost anywhere in their lives. But here, in the world of professional sports where athletes are subjected to the world’s taunts, jeers, and criticisms, players would particularly benefit from trying to remember that controlling oneself offers greater peace than fighting with the outside world.
Cultivating Your Inner Circle
Another important component to managing the stresses of the outside noise is surrounding yourself with the right people. “I think they just need to figure out what’s really important, who to listen to, [and]who’s in their circle who can keep it real with them,” offered Indiana Fever head coach Christie Sides.
This can come somewhat naturally for some professionals in the league. “I don’t put too much weight on what people say about me in the media. That just comes from the confidence in my team and the people I surround myself with,” Lynx forward Napheesa Collier explained. “What they think of me is much more important than someone random on Twitter.”
For many players, teammates are key figures in their inner circle. “You just have to remind yourself that these are the people that matter,” Chicago Sky big Elizabeth Williams acknowledged. “Your teammates, your coaches, the people that are actually in practice and watch film and actually get it.” Turning into your team instead of going it alone was a valuable practice many players described as offering them peace and calm when the world gets loud and aggressive. “It’s really about being able to keep your circle close and just be with those that have your back,” said Boston.
Another really important life lesson conveyed in my conversations with players and coaches was that it is important to know who are the right people to turn to, and sometimes those people are team staff members and professionals. For the coaches and players, this rings true, as they spend a considerable amount of time with the staff and team employees—including players—for nearly half a year at a time. Tension and strife are sure to rise, but when the outside world is routinely looking to cut them down or get under their skin, the players know that finding team resources like a team psychologist to “get some tears going,” as Boston shared with me, is important to blow off steam and stay mentally tough.
Keeping Perspective
According to people within the league, one of the fundamental ways to manage the mental toll is to keep perspective, especially when it comes to social media. “The good thing about age is that you really learn to create boundaries,” White articulated. “For me, I’m not all that active on social media, and when I am, I’m really careful about who I let have access. You learn how to create those safe spaces mentally.” Some players follow a social media approach similar to White’s. “I try not to look at that stuff,” said the Dallas Wings’ Maddy Siegrist. “On social media, you can look at stuff all day long. On your good days, you can’t turn to that, and on your bad days, you can turn to that because if you’re always looking at social media, you’re never going to be happy.” Zia Cooke from the Los Angeles Sparks agreed with Siegrist. “One thing I know for sure is Twitter for sure gets in the way of some of our players in the WNBA,” said Cooke. “The way that they think, and the way that they post. You gotta block it out; that’s what I would do.” Of course, blocking out social media can be harder for some than others, especially as the league grows younger over time.
But keeping perspective isn’t all about managing social media usage. Many coaches also shared that changing perspective meant remembering who and what these athletes are. Sparks head coach Curt Miller explained that in the process of blocking out the exterior noise, it’s also about remembering whose perspective matters most. “I think the overall message to the players is ‘you have to block the noise.’ There’s so much noise out there. … Blocking the noise out and understanding that [the players]are putting in the work,” Miller opined. “They know what they need to focus on; they know what they didn’t accomplish. They’re hardest on themselves. The blocking is the big message because the scrutiny will always be there.”
For all the negative the outside world can bring to these players, many of them also remember what this added attention means for the sport and for the league, and that can provide fresh perspective and balm for the aching mental toll. “We are getting a lot of attention, so that is something that I do like, but the good and the bad is what comes with it,” Cooke said. Others agreed with Cooke’s perspective. “I think I see more good than bad in the attention that we get and the publicity,“ added Wings forward Satou Sabally. “I think [the attention is]good for us, more viewership, more coverage. I personally just like to focus on the positives, just like with anything in life,” shared Sparks guard Karlie Samuelson. “It’s not that we don’t see it, but at the end of the day, we’re trying to grow the game,” explained Elizabeth Williams.
The Human Element
When outside perspective is lost, the people in the league are unafraid of reminding fans who they are at their core. “In the end, we’re all human beings,” said Brondello. So much of this game is focused on the stats, the performances, the storylines, but what is lost in the ether is that these players are human just like everyone else. “At the end of the day, we just put one foot in front of the other and—as players and teams and coaches—try to be the best they can be on the floor,” White explained. “At our jobs, … we try to be the best that we can be for our families, just like everybody else. And we try to be the best human beings and citizens we can be, just like everybody else. And we have a platform to make a different kind of impact. I just think it’s one of those things where each year [as]these players get older, they are going to learn how to do that as well.”
Despite all the toxicity that can emerge from what people not in the know believe, some players are still able to rise above it all. “[We’re] putting great product on the floor but also standing up for the causes we believe in,” Lynx guard Kayla McBride told me. “And that’s bigger than basketball. We’ll always get scrutiny, but we know what we represent. That’s the power that we have, and that’s the power the next generation has. Just blaze that trail our way; it just makes you really proud to be a part of it.”
