Meet the seventh Warrior in our series!
My name is Mirthe, and I moved to East Stroudsburg from The Netherlands in the summer of 2021. For the last two years, I have been part of the women's soccer team and I am a graduate student in Exercise Science.
I have always been an advocate for the mental health of athletes, even though I am very reserved about talking about my own mental health experience. However, I want to share my story in the hope that it resonates with some of you. Hearing other peoples' stories and seeing other people vulnerable has played a huge part in my recovery journey.
While in my last years of high school, I was given the opportunity to play for the youth team of a professional soccer club. I had to switch to a different school. Through all those newfound struggles, there were others not school related. Relationships within my family were struggling, and I was forced to adapt to even more changes in my life. I felt like I did not have the support system that I was used to and felt very alone at a time when I needed people the most. After countless breakdowns during practices, school, and at home, I decided that taking a break from soccer would be the best fit for me. I found the courage to meet with my coach to tell him what I was going through. Instead of giving me the time to focus on my mental health, I got blamed for letting the team down and accused of quitting.
As athletes, we hate the word quitting, it is a word that we have been thought not to use. The shame associated with quitting makes it extremely difficult for an athlete to walk away from something we are committed to achieving. So, I kept playing and while some of my teammates were working their way up, I was slowly sliding off. My mental health was interfering with my physical health. I was mentally and physically drained. After the season ended, I decided that I would never play soccer again.
After two years of struggling mentally, I traveled around Asia for a couple of months. One day, in Nepal, a friend and I, bought a soccer ball in one of the local shops. We walked down the hill until we found some open bumpy ground in front of a small village. We started kicking the ball around until a group of kids came running to us. They had never owned a real soccer ball. We made two goals out of some stones and started to play. I experienced again how much joy playing this game can give me and I saw how much excitement kicking a ball around can bring to children who live in such a poor environment. All my problems became so small, and the world became so big. We played until the sun was down and we left the ball behind.
Between that moment and now, it was mostly time and openly talking about my feelings and frustrations. I could see improvement in my mental state… I slowly started building up playing sports again. And now, at ESU, back on the field as a student-athlete in a foreign country with a different culture and a different language.
I have never felt so mentally strong and confident as now when I am playing soccer.
I am so grateful that I never gave up playing soccer and that I was able to experience how it is to be a student-athlete as an international in the US. It is remarkable how sports can give you your best and worst times. How it can break you down and build you up. Sometimes taking a step back is taking a step forward. There are still things that I struggle with, but I think the most important thing to note it is okay not to be okay all the time, but it is still something that should be worked on.
Give yourself the time you need. Give yourself credit for your resilience and step forward again with grace. Some of the best days of your life are yet to come.
Gallery: (5-4-2023) The Hidden Opponent: Mirthe Bos
Past Stories
