Into the open: struggles of the female athlete

Naomi Osaka has started a conversation about the mental load on young women athletes battling stressors on and off the field

In 2019, Utkarsha Pawar, 22, from Pune, began journalling. On its last page, she wrote down her goal: to be selected in the cricket Women’s Under-23 Challenger Trophy. Every day, as she filled her diary, it was a reminder that all her thoughts and actions were fine-tuned towards that. “I achieved it, and ticked it off,” she says, adding that writing has helped in visualisation, an exercise by sportspersons to sharpen focus and better performance. It also helped her process her grandfather’s death last year. While the practice is beneficial for men and women athletes, Pawar finds that it’s her women athlete friends who journal more. “I also have gym training as part of the journal, so it helps me keep track of how I perform and lift (weights) during my periods,” she says.