Editor's note: This is part five of the Ending the Stigma series on mental health
 
NAMPA, Idaho – Baseball had always been fun for Scott Frasnelly.

It was a chance to go compete and hang out with his buddies. But all of that changed the spring of his junior year at Northwest Nazarene.

Now, he had expectations. He was a junior college transfer brought in on a big scholarship. He was supposed to be the pitching ace and win 8-10 games.

So, when his career got off to a rocky start, things spiraled quickly.

"It was like, 'What is going on?' " he said. "I was so worried about the negative and it was affecting me out there. Almost like I was hoping I would throw a strike instead of just pitching."

As the pressure mounted, Frasnelly asked his coaches if they noticed anything in his mechanics and they said no. The coaches assumed he would snap out of it.

It never happened, though, as Frasnelly lost his spot in the starting rotation and didn't win a game that season.

"The worst part about it is that I knew it wasn't how I played baseball," said Frasnelly, who is the Marketing Director for the Cal State University, Bakersfield athletic department. "Something was off. Knowing you aren't performing like you can and something is wrong is so frustrating."



As the pitcher and his coaches tried to figure out how to fix the problem, they lacked the tools of mental health services to navigate the situation.

As the stigma of working with counselors and therapists is starting to wear off, today's college coaches work on mental health and pressure from Day 1.

Current baseball coach Joe Schaefer knows there is an adjustment period for all junior college transfers and expects them to struggle in the first year at a four-year school.

"As a coaching staff, we make it very clear to these guys from Day 1 that we know what kind of player they are," Schaefer said. "You don't need to add pressure to yourself. We know you are going to struggle. We are fully aware it is going to happen, so don't freak out when it starts."

It isn't just baseball and it isn't just transfers who struggle with the pressure of performing.

NNU clinical counselor Julie Barrass said she works with students who struggle to meet expectations whether in sports or dance or music or speech.

"I talk a lot about controllables," she said. "We can't control what happens to us, but we can control our response. The more your brain is aware of all the things that could happen, the more it won't blindside you."

Part of that control for men's soccer coach Adam Pearce is encouraging his players to be the best at everything they do.

From conditioning to strength training to academics to being a teammate to how they take care of the locker room, Pearce expects them to put forth their best effort.

"We can control our best effort, but not the outcome," he said. "It takes away some of the pressure of having to be the best – instead you have to be your best."

Women's soccer coach Mary Ybarguen works with her squad on the compartmental theory of trying to concentrate on just the task at hand.

"When we are soccer we focus on soccer," she said. "When you aren't here (at the gym), don't think about soccer or worry about it all the time. Soccer time is for soccer time and then do school and social lives. Try not to let soccer consume other aspects of your areas that you are doing. You have to let go of things you have no control of."

Obviously, that is easier said than done, but in the new COVID-19 world, Ybarguen is proud of how her athletes have navigated life.

"These kids are super successful and way more focused than I was at that age," she said. "In some aspects, they are more mature. COVID is a good reminder that we really don't have control over everything in our lives and we can't plan everything out."

Nearly 20 years ago, Frasnelly learned that lesson the hard way.

At the end of his forgettable junior season, he lost his scholarship and wasn't sure he was going to come back to Nampa.

In the end, he figured getting his business degree was worth it. He returned, pitched out of the bullpen and was much more successful.

"Looking back on it, when I played the sport and just had fun and didn't worry about the external things, I played at a much higher level," he said. "When I was in it, I don't think I thought about it because I just didn't connect those dots.

"I was melting under the pressure and I was just so frustrated and trying to figure it out for three months."



Frasnelly is keenly aware of trying to balance his role in marketing the athletic department with keeping people aware that the athletes are young and have enough to deal with just balancing school and sports.

"I am very wary of how the spotlight has intensified on athletes," he said. "It is hard, because my job is marketing and that sells, but I think having sports psychologists and people to talk to really helps."