Covid-19: How the Loss of Sports Impacted Adolescents

 

“For children and young adults, sport is often a way to socialize and build additional skills. When school and other social interactions are inaccessible, lack of physical activity can cause younger athletes to experience isolation, loneliness and grief.” - European Parliament 

The Covid-19 pandemic brought countless challenges for the world’s population. As the virus spread across Europe, people had to isolate themselves and stay home. Graduation ceremonies, weddings, vacations, and other significant life events were canceled indefinitely. While people experienced sadness over these moments, one cannot overlook the impact of losing even the mundane parts of life. For many, sports and exercise are critical parts of daily routines and ways to maintain control amid life’s challenges. COVID-19 led nearly all facilities to close, including fitness studios and sports arenas, taking away individual and group physical activity. While there were still means to engage with sports through virtual or outdoor options, these alternatives did not provide the same degree of community or motivation that, for instance, a classic European football match could. 

Participation in sports creates positive benefits for both physical and mental health. When the pandemic hit, many individuals lost their ability to play sports. No group demonstrated this phenomenon quite like youth. For many young people, sports and school are the foundational communities in their lives. Covid took both of these away, leading to incredible amounts of isolation. As lockdowns became mandatory in Europe, many adolescents experienced increased anxiety or lashed out in response to the loss they experienced. Additionally, adolescent suicide rates rose, further indicating the negative impacts on youth mental health at the start of the pandemic. While adults’ lives were equally changed, these changes' effects were not felt equally across age groups. According to a study by Clemente-Suarez et al., “youth athletes have fewer physical and psychological resources than adults to draw on when facing unexpected changes, increasing their vulnerability” (Kass & Morrison). For many children, this was the most significant change ever experienced, prompting a greater response than their adult counterparts. 

With a lack of control over the circumstances of the pandemic, many children began searching for something to take hold of. For many, food took the brunt of these emotions. Unable to participate in sports, negative body image began to spread. This meant new diets and ways to restrict eating gained popularity during the pandemic. Studies suggest that many of these young athletes attempted to intermittent fast during their time at home. This involves eating only during certain hours of the day to maintain or reduce their weight. Losing sports prompted adolescents to experiment with other methods of “staying healthy,” many of which were not healthy at all. 

To combat the loss of sport during the pandemic, the European University Sports Association (EUSA) changed its “European Week of Sport” to get people active amid the unprecedented pandemic. 2020 marked the 6th year of this week-long event, and EUSA decided to transform its traditional “#BeActive” campaign into the “#BeActiveAtHome” campaign. The organization worked to encourage people to post with the hashtag and showcase their creative ways of staying active in their own homes. This NGO specifically targeted youth populations by also promoting tagging @european_youth_eu on posts. While this effort was far from a solution to the loss of sport during the pandemic, it was a step in the right direction. Getting people back into sports and trying to restore a sense of normalcy, especially for Europe’s youth, was a critical way to combat the mental health problems and disordered eating that emerged during COVID-19. 

In the midst of an unprecedented pandemic, what do you think of EUSA's initiative? Did this organization do enough to promote exercise? If not, what more could have been done? Many readers likely have firsthand experiences with the loss of sports and physical activity from Covid-19, we would love to hear about your experiences in the comment section! 

REFERENCES 

How coronavirus infected Sport - European Parliament. European Parliament . (n.d.). 

https://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/BRIE/2021/659449/EPRS_BRI(2021)659449_EN.pdf 

Kass, P., & Morrison, T. E. (2023). The Impact of COVID-19 Restrictions on Youth Athlete 

Mental Health: A Narrative Review. Current psychiatry reports, 25(5), 193–199. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11920-023-01422-y