Sports psychologist discusses why teen athletes struggle to keep their head in the game

These experiences inspired Lo to provide support catered to athletes’ needs. In 2015, she founded a sports psychology consultancy, Inner Edge, and has been organising educational events to reduce the stigma against discussing mental well-being in sports.

Published this year and showcased at the Hong Kong Book Fair in July, Lo’s book, Sport Psychology 2: Are You Just an Athlete? discusses the mental battles that athletes face.

The book is based on her experiences over the past two decades educating athletes, coaches and parents about mental health. It also holds lessons for the general public about building an identity based on multiple areas of your life.

“My own experience was what really interested me in learning more about the mental side of the game, and I was already quite interested in psychology, so it was sort of the best of both worlds,” Lo explained.

According to Lo, Hong Kong currently does not have data on the mental health of teen athletes in the city, and research is limited to professionals training in the Hong Kong Sports Institute. Still, Lo hopes there will be funding for citywide research on this demographic in the future.

Lo’s book explores the day-to-day obstacles that athletes face, reflecting the reality she observes in her practice. “Athletes sometimes face different struggles,” she said.

“The most common one would be where they are more extrinsically motivated – when athletes have to decide whether to push through their sport just because their parents tell them not to give up.”

“It then gets [them] to think, ‘Do I obey? Do I rebel?’”

Lo recalled an athlete who walked away from competitive swimming before being pressured by parents to take up another sport to “maintain their fitness level”. This caused the former swimmer to feel insecure about how they were doing compared to their peers.

In the psychologist’s experience, many athletes are open to discussing their mental health in private settings, but talking about it publicly is a giant hurdle that few have crossed.

Another major issue that athletes face is making sports their whole identity – this is a focus in Lo’s latest book. She mentions that athletes in secondary school were especially vulnerable to this as many of them would rely on their sports abilities to secure a spot at top universities.

“However, once they actually get into university, it then becomes, ‘What next?’, because they’ve already achieved their goal,” Lo pointed out.

Lo hopes to help athletes make the difficult decision of whether walking away from their sport will benefit their well-being. “For athletes, what I want them to take away from my book is that it is OK to leave your sport.”

The psychologist noted that leaving was different from quitting. She believes this is an important distinction because some athletes may still enjoy the sport, but cannot perform well because of the high-pressure training environment. This is not the same as quitting because they genuinely dislike the sport.

“If you tried it and you really don’t think it’s the sport for you – or you really do not enjoy it even if you love it so much – then it is OK to leave the sport,” she said.

Lo said the lessons in her book could also apply to those who are not athletes. Its tips are useful for anyone who has based much of their identity on one aspect of their talents.

“I actually also had clients who were musicians walk in, and they struggle with things like perfectionism as well,” she said. “So it’s not just for athletes.”

Lo explained that her book’s main takeaway was about the importance of honing multiple identities throughout your life.

“It makes it easier for your mental health to balance between your multiple identities so that it doesn’t feel like you’ve lost everything once you walk away from or quit your sport.”

Karen Lo will discuss her book at 5pm on August 17 at Eslite Bookstore in Causeway Bay, as well as on August 24 at a student-led event, Beyond the Finish Line.