Over the past week, the Portland Thorns found themselves in two close battles at the Coachella Valley Pre Season Invitational. In match one, the Thorns lost 2-1 to Angel City FC, but had encouraging performances from rookie players and goalkeeper Mackenzie Arnold. In the second match, the Thorns lost 3-2 to the Houston Dash.
But what mattered most to the team was getting play time and gaining valuable competition experience for the season ahead. The real story behind this team's past successes and their confidence for the season ahead stems from their focus on mental preparation. After welcoming Renee Pirkl, PsyD, as a new mental performance coach in 2024, the Thorns are prepared to tackle obstacles outside of sport as well as competitors on the field.
A Switch To Mental Wellness
Being a professional athlete comes with a lot of stressors and expectations, on the field and off. Pirkl’s role with the Thorns allows her to help athletes navigate these pressures and explore how they are impacting their mental health and well-being. “The emphasis on mental health awareness stems from the number of factors that come into play for women athletes, including the hurdles to becoming professional, historical abuses of power, higher rates of injury, decisions about having children, and maintaining a balance in professional and personal lives,” she said.
Outside of these stressors, we often set high expectations that can be detrimental to our own well-being. For this reason, it’s important to be mindful of where we’re putting our energy, and to make sure to care for our brains as much as our bodies.
Sophia Wilson (Smith) is no stranger to putting pressure on herself to perform, especially after a season where a lot of people saw her succeed. The Thorns forward and USWNT member, details how she felt coming off of her biggest win in an interview with NBC Sports. “And now I put the pressure on myself to feel like, ‘Okay, now I have to do that all again.’” Although many anxieties are created by the athletes themselves, this doesn’t make the pressures any less real. Pirkl explains that by practicing things like focused breathwork, visualization, and meditation, we can become better equipped to perform when outside strains or personal anxieties take hold.
“Mentally healthy people are more open to feedback, better able to connect with others, recover more quickly from setbacks...and are generally more resilient.”
Breaking The Stigma
Being mentally healthy is just as important for an athlete as being physically healthy. This point has been highlighted continuously over the past several years, as increased media attention to college athlete suicides brings more VISibility to mental health. For the Thorns, Pirkl’s motto is that “mental health contributes to a team’s success.” Along with preaching that a strong mental well-being is necessary for well rounded overall health, she emphasizes that performance cannot be optimized without a healthy mind.
As more athletes speak out about their own struggles with mental health, the taboo topic is quickly becoming something collegiate and professional teams are prioritizing. In her interview with NBC, Wilson highlighted the tragic loss of her close friend and Stanford teammate to suicide, Katie Meyer. “I think the hardest part was there weren’t any signs of anything…You wouldn’t know she was hurting.”
Struggling with your mental health can be an invisible battle, especially when putting on a stoic and unwavering front is encouraged. This is why it’s so necessary for teams and athletes to follow in the footsteps of the Thorns, and take action to protect mental well-being before it becomes a bigger issue.
Mental Wellness in Action
The Thorns will soon begin testing both their mental and physical strength during a long regular season, beginning on March 15th against the Kansas City Current. Within the last year, the team has worked on developing distress tolerance skills, learned to deal with negative self-talk, increased mind-body connection, and learned to handle the emotional ups and downs of sport.
Increased mental well-being creates a safer environment for everyone on our team. When we encourage sharing our struggles, we can thrive when things get tough. The Thorns are setting an excellent example for the next generation of young women athletes, and they will surely be using their newfound mental skills on the field this season.
