The Quiet Battle: How Sports Culture Keeps Male Athletes From Asking For Help
Leo Hale | COM1101 | Dr. Watley | McDaniel College | 4/30/26
Mark Meszaros has spent 25 years in the professional sports world, and he is grateful for every one of them. But if you ask him about mental health, and the Operations Manager gets real about something most athletes never talk about.
Meszaros stated; "I've never thought anyone could relate to what I was going through. So I would keep it all inside and not express what was going on."
Across all levels of sport, male athletes are carrying mental and emotional stresses that research shows are widespread, serious, and largely untreated. One of the main reasons, experts and athletes agree, often comes down to the culture of sports itself.
Approximately 31% of male collegiate athletes report symptoms of depression or anxiety each year. According to the Journal of Sport and Health Science, "collegiate athletes are willing to utilize mental health services, but gender, perceived stigma, peer norms for athletes and coaches impact their" help-seeking behavior (Moreland, Coxe & Yang, 2018, p. 58).
Despite those rates, the same research base shows that male athletes seek help far less than their non-athlete peers. One study found “only 10% of college athletes sought help, compared to 30% of non-athletes” (Magnett, 2024). Also, according to Men, Mental Health, and Elite Sport: a Narrative Review, "despite the prevalence of common mental disorders in male athletes, stigma still exists, and although some athletes discuss their issues publicly after their career has ended, the majority of athletes prefer to remain silent” (Souter, Lewis & Serrant, 2018, p. 1). In the mind of majority of retired athletes, there still is a stigma that you’re weak when talking emotions.
Joey Nicholson, a men's lacrosse player at McDaniel College, has played the sport for fifteen years. He remembers being told an early message clearly: "I was always told to suck it up and deal with it and find a way to succeed and finish. Have to be able to handle the adversity."
His teammate, Reagen Wilson, heard something similar. "The message I received was to be mentally tough and never give up, no matter how hard it gets, just push through, and it will be brighter on the other side."
Resilience can be, and is, very valuable. But when mental toughness becomes the only acceptable response to any struggle, researchers say the consequences can be serious. The Journal of Sport and Health Sciences found that "overall, the organizational structure of the athletic program and the characteristics, attitudes, opinions, and behaviors of those close to the athlete will impact whether an athlete chooses to utilize mental health services" (Moreland, Coxe & Yang, 2018, p. 65). In other words, the culture that coaches and players create determines whether athletes ever feel safe enough to speak up. There cultures are usually built over time and cannot happen over night.
After talking to many college athletes about their teams, the word that comes up repeatedly is family. Nicholson called his locker room "one big brotherhood." Wilson said his teammates would "give the shirt off their back" for each other. Meszaros described the Blast's locker room culture in a single word: family.
But that brotherhood has limits, and those limits often run directly through the topic of mental health.
When asked whether they had ever hidden or downplayed something they were going through emotionally, Wilson answered simply: "Yes." Nicholson admitted that when things go wrong competitively, "you do tend to get in your head and start thinking down on yourself. It's so easy to focus on the negatives instead of the positives." And teammate Will Beacham, asked what he would tell other male athletes about mental health, offered this: "Life sucks, learn to deal with it and you will be a better man for it."
That response is not a failure of character. It is the product of a culture.
Meszaros speaks from deep inside the Baltimore Blast culture, and his honesty is impressive for it. "Every day I am affected by one thing or another," he said. "Most of the time, personal issues outside the field are the cause. It has been tough to deal with when you keep it bottled up inside and don't talk about it. That is the part that is hard for me."
He also talked about a problem that is broader than indoor soccer. "I think because athletes are held to a higher standard than others, some are afraid to admit they have a mental health issue. I think we need to stop judging athletes and remember they are human just like us."
His message to other male athletes: "It is OK to open up and admit something is wrong. It's OK to need to talk to someone. Don't try to carry the weight of the world on your shoulders."
Wilson said his perspective changed when he arrived at McDaniel and learned about Morgan's Message, a nonprofit dedicated to student-athlete mental health. "Until I came to McDaniel and heard about Morgan's Message, I didn't realize how severely athletes are impacted. Make athletes more aware of the impact of mental health."
His advice for struggling athletes was direct: "If you're going through something, you can reach out for help. No one will judge you, and there is always someone who is willing to listen."
Nicholson, reflecting on fifteen years of lacrosse shaping his identity, put it simply: "I wish other male athletes my age would know and realize that sports don't have to direct your whole life."
In a culture where male athletes are taught from childhood that worth is measured by what they can endure, that is a foundational thing to say. And it may be exactly what more athletes need to hear. From a college lacrosse field in Westminster to a professional arena in Baltimore, the message is the same: you are not alone, and there is no shame in saying so. The conversation has started. Now it just needs to get louder.
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References
Magnett, S. (2024). A study of mental health conditions among elite level athletes [Senior honors thesis, Liberty University]. Liberty University Honors Program.
Moreland, J. J., Coxe, K. A., & Yang, J. (2018). Collegiate athletes' mental health services utilization: A systematic review of conceptualizations, operationalizations, facilitators, and barriers. Journal of Sport and Health Science, 7(1), 58–69. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jshs.2017.04.009
Souter, G., Lewis, R., & Serrant, L. (2018). Men, mental health and elite sport: A narrative review. Sports Medicine - Open, 4(1), 57. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40798-018-0175-