Sitting directly across the blue picnic table from me was none other than Florida State University’s senior javelin thrower, Stella Weinberg. We decided to sit in the outside area of Burrito Border because the weather had been nice all day, and a local artist was setting up to perform onstage. We were both excited to have this conversation, as Stella is someone I’ve known and admired for a while. I kept asking myself, “Who is Stella Weinberg? What makes her the strong person that others see?” I wanted to know what keeps her pushing and striving to persevere through all the obstacles she’s faced on and off the field, making her the athlete she is today.
Stella has many accomplishments under her belt to show off her talent and hard work as a javelin thrower. Back in 2015, she placed second at the U18 World Championships, winning her a silver medal for her first international competition. From there, she continued to qualify for Junior Worlds in 2016, Europeans in 2017 and another European throwing cup in 2018. By 2020, she won silver at Nationals and the title of Junior National Champion in her hometown of Kristiansand, Norway. With national records and plenty of medals to garnish her name, Stella is quite a seasoned athlete.
It wasn’t until Thanksgiving of 2020 that Stella first started to experience a lot of pain in her right shoulder. By March 2021, her injury got to the point where she had to call off her first meet of the season. From there, she’s been through a long journey of injury after injury, requiring regular injections and a lot of time in rehab to keep surgery at bay. But, in December 2021, the decision was made that surgery was Stella’s only option to get to performance-level again. She candidly shared this memory with me and the low point it brought her to.
“Once I had my surgery in December, I broke down,” Stella said. “I thought ‘d*mn, I did all this work, and I still needed surgery after all. Who knows if I’ll have a season? Who knows when I’ll be able to throw again?’”
She found herself in a deep state of depression trying to grapple with all these uncertainties and frustrations. Dealing with an injury and the whole rehab process was mentally draining for her, to the point where some days she wouldn’t even want to get out of bed.
“It’s really hard. As an athlete, you don’t want to be injured. I want to be back on the track doing what I love,” Stella explained.
This wasn’t her first time dealing with depression and mental health struggles. For a few years before this, she had silently been fighting mental battles alone, afraid to open up and ask for help. Her status as an athlete and public figure played a large role in that.
Stella stated, “Between the pressure that we athletes have from performing, being on top of our classes, and being a good role model for people, we have a lot of eyes on us. Then, when you get injured as well, people are always asking ‘When is she coming back?’ ‘How is the healing process?’ People are really curious, and that can destroy your mental health.”
At first, Stella hid a lot of the pressure and sadness that she was experiencing by masking her social media with highlights of her life. She talked about how that suppression made her miserable, as though she couldn’t be her honest self out of fear that people might not accept her flaws. Now, Stella uses her social media platform to speak up about mental health awareness, especially for athletes, since the conversation isn’t nearly as commonplace as it should be.
Stella explained, “Being open about it has made me way more comfortable crying in public, or telling my coach, ‘Hey, I’m having a crappy day. Do you mind if I just take care of myself today?’ My coach is very understanding. Once I started opening up to him about my mental health, he said ‘You’re the first priority. Your mental health matters before anything else.’ Hearing that from my coach has made me so much more comfortable with being myself.”
Since she’s been more open about her mental health, she’s seen a positive change in her performance. She’s able to more fully throw herself into her workouts and rehab without pressure or distractions. She told me that now, she does little things every day to take care of her mental health, such as reading a book on her balcony in the morning, going to FSU’s Landis Green to relax or getting coffee. She stressed the importance of doing little things every day to make yourself happy, as well as getting help whenever you need it.
Reflecting on everything I know about Stella, it’s her inner strength and courage that I admire so much. She’s brave enough to start conversations about athletes’ mental health, even though it’s nerve-wracking to do. She works tirelessly, showing up every day to her workouts and rehab so she can throw again, in the hopes of one day making it to the Olympics. She’s open and honest so that others can find comfort in hearing her story. She’s relentless, refusing to give up no matter what obstacles are in her way. Her perseverance makes her a force to be reckoned with, both on and off the field.
Want to see more HCFSU? Be sure to like us on Facebook and follow us on Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, YouTube and Pinterest!