Julianna Kimm: Varsity Captain Basketball Player
-Junior at Monta Vista High School in Cupertino, California
-Captain of Monta Vista’s Girls Varsity Basketball Team
-Team is currently undefeated and ranked 1st in the league
How do you manage basketball, school, friends, family, etc.?
“I don’t actually manage it that well but I get stuff done. I normally go home and I rest up or eat something before I go to practice and then when I come back from practice, I eat dinner because practice is normally from 6:00-8:30. I sit around for some time and start doing my homework when I’m ready and anything that I can't get done, I do it the next day. I do my work by importance - as long as I get my homework done before class, it’s fine.”
How do you deal with burnout?
“I don’t actually deal with it that well. My parents are very supportive of me and they know how stressed I can be and so they always help out as much as they can. They are my big support system but if I get burned out, I normally just sit in bed and watch TV because otherwise, working more will only impact my mental health even worse.”
How do you deal with stress on competition day/games/tournaments?
“I’m the captain of my team and so I have to be the support system for my team. Normally, I’m pretty calm, cool, and collected and I like to hype my team up a lot because my team is on the more soft-spoken side. I know I have to step up in that role but honestly, I don’t really have that much anxiety before games.”
As the captain of the basketball team, you have more responsibilities. How does this impact your mental health (pressure) and how do you deal with it?
“Being the captain of a team, especially since I’m a junior, has been really tough for me because my coach, Ms. Borelli, is a very tough coach. It’s very tough love and she wants things done in a specific way. Also, since I’m more so the captain than my co-captain - because she is a senior and has senioritis - I have to take care of a lot of stuff for the team. I’m always running errands for my coach and at times, it can be a little rough because she sometimes takes her anger out on me and I know that as a captain, I have to take it and roll with it. However, since it’s my junior year and I have a lack of sleep because of the workload, it sometimes gets to me. That’s when I get a little bit more stressed. My parents are a really big support system so when they know that I’m stressed, they usually try and back off, but help me when I need it, or just let me sit by myself and cool down.”
Is there any parental pressure? How do you deal with it?
“I don’t think, more so it’s, parental pressure because like I said before, my parents are my big support system and because my dad was my previous coach on other teams, he knows what I can do and the potential I have more than my mother. I think, more so, I’m afraid of disappointing them because all they care about is that I try my best and so when I have a poor performance in a game, I feel upset because I disappointed them as their daughter. Other than that, there’s not too much pressure.”
Is mental health talked about on your team? Would you like to see it talked about?
“I don’t think mental health is talked about on my team a lot however, I think that if it were to be brought up, my coach would be understanding about it and I think she would let us take a day off for mental health. However, I think that most of us on the team just let anything that happens to us roll off but I know that there are some girls on my team that get really frustrated during practice and they have a little bit of a breakdown. It’s my job as a captain to go out there and help them and work through it.”
Does your coach emphasize mental health and provide support for your mental health?
“I don’t really think so. Sometimes, as I said before, some girls have breakdowns during practice or games but when my coach sees that, she’ll tell me, as a captain, to go and help them get through it. She’ll give us the time and the space we need to do this. But, if the matter is worse, she’ll step in and talk to the players and help them work through their problems too.”
What other external pressures affect basketball? (peer pressure, social media)
“Our team is currently undefeated and we’re also league champions. I think the pressure to do well is one factor and the fact that we are representing our school is another pressure. We talk a little bit of smack about the boys team and so I think the pressure to do well and just to show up the boys, especially because the boys have a lot more attention on them since they are the more popular team, adds a little bit more pressure on us to do well.”
Are you comfortable talking to teammates about mental health and pressure? What types of teammates help with your mental health/wellness? This could be small things like “nice shot” or “good pass”.
“My team is very supportive about that. We’re very uplifting and that is really nice, especially when we have rough shooting days. Our teammates will definitely notice that and give us a bit more support through supportive messages like you said in your question. I also think that everyone on the team is so genuinely nice. Sometimes, our coach gets a little upset at us because we don’t put enough pressure on each other when we’re not in the right spot on the court. I think because of that, the team is very well-rounded and cohesive.”
