On April 26, James Madison University announced its star catcher, Lauren Bernett, died at the age of 20. On April 27, Rockingham County Sheriff Bryan Hutcheson said his death was an apparent suicide.
Bernett became the third NCAA student-athlete since March 1 to die by suicide in 2022. The other two were former Stanford goalie Katie Meyer and Wisconsin runner Sarah Shulze.
“I think now more than ever that’s been a huge issue,” Los Angeles Sparks center Olivia Nelson-Ododa told rolling out. “Student-athletes have to go through a lot that a lot of people don’t see behind the scenes.”
Nelson-Ododa starred for four years with the UCONN women’s basketball team, currently the most popular women’s collegiate program in the nation. She entered college a top-five recruit in the country to go along with the sky-high expectations of playing under Geno Auriemma. Auriemma has a reputation for constantly challenging his players, to the point where Nelson-Ododa’s teammate Christyn Williams opened up about dealing with self-doubt in college despite being the No. 1 recruit coming out of her class. Some fans have described Auriemma’s style as breaking down to build up, a method Washington Mystics center Shakira Austin, who transferred from Maryland to Ole Miss in college, warned recruits to steer clear of.
“This is for the recruits out there,” Austin tweeted on March 28. “Definitely do your research on how coaches ‘pull the best’ out of the players they recruit. Know what motivates you and know what doesn’t. And if a coach mentions breaking you to build you, RUN. :)”
During the Sparks’ April 27 media day, Nelson-Ododa, who’s in the midst of finishing her final undergraduate semester, continued to detail the importance of student-athletes mental health.
“You may just see them playing, you may just see them on TV, but in reality, we’re facing pressures from school, academic performances, sports performances and just people putting pressure on themselves overall,” she said. “I think it’s huge that programs can really advocate for their players and allow resources for them to get help when they need it or to reach out to somebody. I think that should be pushed more for student-athletes, especially since there’s this facade that we’re supposed to be mentally tough all the time and we kind of can’t get a break from that. It’s really important to push the narrative that student-athletes need help and they shouldn’t feel ashamed reaching out for that. There should be more available resources for them.”
The suicides aren’t limited to any demographic within current or former student-athletes, as in the case of former Houston track star and NCAA champion Cameron Burrell, the godson of Carl Lewis, killed himself at age 26 in August 2021.
“We may never know why Cameron made such a decision,” Leroy Burrell, Cameron’s father, released in a statement acquired by ABC13. “We encourage anyone who may be struggling in their lives to reach out for help. You are not alone, and you are surrounded by more people who love and care for you than you may think in a dark moment.”
Ohio State offensive lineman Harry Miller retired from football after his junior season in 2021 to protect his mental health.
“There was a dead man on the television set, but nobody knew it,” Miller, a 4.0 student, said in his retirement announcement.
According to the CDC, suicides among ages 10-34 either increased or remained the same from 2019 through the 2020 pandemic lockdown. Rates for every other age, male or female, decreased during the first year of the pandemic.
For help, please contact the National Suicide Prevention Hotline at 800-273-8255, or text “HOME” to 741741.
