The world faces the problem of youth not being able to voice their mental health issues, which affects everyone in some way. The World Health Organisation says 1 in 8 people globally live with a form of mental health issue; things like anxiety and depression are the most common, and modern societal pressures and crises like COVID-19 have heightened these cases.

The World Health Organisation also mentions that the global economy loses over £1trillion every year in productivity due to depression and anxiety disorders. This burden is significant in professional sports, seeing as you are expected to produce high-level performances consistently.

When discussing the issues of mental health socially, it can lead to discrimination, isolation, and exclusion, which contribute to youth being unable to talk about their difficulties with their mental health.

For the youth players who try to make their way up in the football ranks, they must now sacrifice so much of their time trying to compete against hundreds and thousands of young talents, all to reach the highest level of the game.

In this day and age, people tend to disregard the mental challenges that the youth tend to face when they go through this process of pushing themselves to the limit daily. When a youth player gets released from a club, the toll it takes on them would be huge, as all they’ve worked they would think would be for nothing.