WPSL FOCUSES ON MENTAL HEALTH IN PARTNERSHIP WITH ATHMINDSET

 

Andrew Mosier | WPSL Communications

 

To further promote the mental health and mental performance of its more than 3,000 players, coaches, and staff, the WPSL and AthMindset have entered into a groundbreaking partnership for the 2025 season, building a culture where mental fitness and wellness are prioritized. 

 

Throughout the season, WPSL athletes, coaches, and staff will take part in individual and team sessions, workshops, and receive education about mental health, wellness, and performance concepts led by the AthMindset registry of practitioners that include licensed mental health clinicians and certified mental performance consultants.

 

The program grew out of a series of webinars run by AthMindset Founder and CEO, Lisa Bonta Sumii, during the 2024 WPSL season. The webinars were the result of long conversations between Bonta Sumii and WPSL Commissioner, Kendra Halterman, at the SheBelieves Summit in Chicago last April.

 

“People sometimes forget that athletes are people first and foremost. Their mental health is just as important as their physical health,” Halterman said. “I don’t think there is anyone better suited to help us get this program off the ground than Lisa [Bonta Sumii].” 

 

Along with her work at AthMindset, Bonta Sumii hosts the Athlete Mindset Podcast, which featured U.S. soccer royalty and WPSL alumna, Brandi Chastain last summer (listen here). Bonta Sumii is also an author,  speaker, and pioneered the role of Mental Performance Coach for the Oakland Roots and Soul SC.

 

“I approach the athlete from a holistic perspective, making sure that their overall well-being is taken care of—their relationships, their communication with the people that matter to them the most, their inner thoughts and emotions, as well as their performance on the field,” Bonta Sumii said. “This approach is the same for the coaches and staff. It’s just that their role and performance environment may differ.”

 

Bonta Sumii grew up playing soccer in a family of soccer players; she  understands the unique challenges that are part and parcel with the game. After an injury just before college cut her playing career short, Bonta Sumii experienced first-hand the toll a career-ending injury takes physically and emotionally on a player.

 

Bonta Sumii reflects on feeling lost during this period, as she struggled with limited access to rehabilitation opportunities—both physical and mental—that were necessary to restore her to collegiate-level playing ability, hindered by a lack of financial and mental health resources.

“I struggled and flailed a lot the first couple years of college, until I found my new identity, my new purpose,” Bonta Sumii said. “That is why this work is so important to me. I want to provide something I didn’t have and desperately needed.”

 

For Bonta Sumii, the stigma of asking for help remains one of the biggest hurdles in getting players the help they need and wants players to understand that everyone faces obstacles in their life, they're human, the response to those obstacles is crucial, equipping them to do so is key. 

 

“We’ve seen it over and over again in high-level women’s soccer,” Bonta Sumii said. “High profile, over-achieving, high performing players don’t want to ask for help. They think if they do, they are weak. They want to make the people around them proud and look ‘strong.’ The staff and coaches are often cut from the same cloth, also managing the adversities of their lives.”

 

Additionally, along with performance on the field, athletes are trying to manage multiple stressors that could include academics, intimate relationships, teammate dynamics, coaching styles, jobs, and the needs of family members back home.

 

“A lot of folks who look very strong on the outside and perform at a high level are actually breaking on the inside,” Bonta Sumii said. “They pretend that they are okay. We need to equip coaches, staff, and teammates with the proper questions and the proper resources to help people live their lives, literally and figuratively.” 

 

One of the topics Bonta Sumii stresses is the issue of athlete identity with female soccer players. 

 

“You see, with a lot of female soccer players, their identity is based solely on how they perform. ‘If I’m playing well, then I’m a good person. If I’m not playing well, then I’m less than—and I don’t feel good about myself.” 

 

Much of what Bonta Sumii hopes to accomplish revolves around teaching the women playing in the WPSL that they are more than just soccer players. And that it’s ok to discover and develop other aspects of who they are.

“We want to help them realize that they are more than just soccer players. We aim to show them that they can be many different things, and it’s okay not to define themselves solely by soccer. Embracing and expressing other aspects of their identity—like being a student, partner, family member, musician, community member, social activist, or a good friend—can actually make them better players.”

For example, a study in the Journal of Sports Psychology, 2023 on the Impact of Relaxation and Breathing Techniques, shows:

• Reduction in anxiety: Players who practiced relaxation techniques reported a 22% reduction in pre-game anxiety.

• Improvement in concentration: Players who practiced controlled breathing had a 20% improvement in concentration during high-stress moments in matches.

• Penalty kick success rate: Female soccer players using relaxation techniques saw an 18% higher success rate in penalty kicks compared to a control group. 

One of the greater challenges the WPSL poses in dealing with the mental health and well-being of its players is the continuum of life stages they are in, across the league. The same team can feature talented youth players still maneuvering the social rigors of high school and college, all the way to players who are partnered with children.

 

But mental health does not end with the players. Bonta Sumii said supporting teams’ technical and administrative staff is essential: “They need to be ‘well’ and supported so they can pour their focus into the players,” she said.

 

Related Links

PARTNERSHIP: ATHMINDSET

 

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