The Trento forward believes a player’s mind is just as important as his body and game
Anthony Lamb: 'Take care of your mental health'
Player Spotlight
9 Lesezeit
Every basketball player works on his shot. They spend hours upon hours on their dribbling. And of course their physical well-being cannot be avoided in a game as demanding as basketball. But Dolomiti Energia Trento forward Anthony Lamb believes players must not forget about their mental health.
Lamb’s mental strength has made him a major contributor for Trento in his first season in the BKT EuroCup and Europe.
“Mental health is a process, and it's something that you have to focus on probably every day or as much as you can during the week. It's not that you have to focus on it every moment of the day, but you have to understand that there are ups and downs,” said Lamb, who is averaging 14.3 points, 4.1 rebounds and 2.8 assists through 16 games for Trento.
"Just like your physical health, if you don't take care of your mental health, it will decline. So make sure you have somebody to talk to, make sure you have people around you that can support you and that you’re learning how to manage your own cycles and your own emotions, thoughts and the way you interact with the world. Those things go a long way with making sure that you not only can be happy and healthy, but you're getting stronger mentally.”
Lamb is convinced that the more you work on your mental health, the better you will cope with problems.
“Just like you can get strong in the weight room, getting strong mentally helps you handle adversity, helps you to handle stress. It helps you to build different disciplines that go into maintaining your mental health, but also making life a lot better and a lot more enjoyable,” he said.
Lamb insists people need to actively get their mental rips in – just like putting up shots during practice.
“Ask questions to people that can help you and find somebody that can help you grow stronger mentally, just like you would find a weight room coach to help you grow stronger in the weight room,” he noted.
Lamb says basketball is a good way for him to de-stress because it’s fun for him. It’s the daily grind off the court – regular life, bills, making sure family is okay – that causes him to stress, just like everyone else.
“I've had ups and downs mentally. And my times where I haven't focused on it or haven't put the time in to take care of my own mental health, those are usually the times where I'm the most stressed out or have the most anxiety. When I'm doing my work beforehand and preparing myself for the challenges that I face, that's usually when I'm at my best,” he stated.
“Things like that can weigh down on you if you don't take care of yourself first. So when you're aiming to take care of yourself first and making sure everything else comes second, it lets you prepare for each of those things as they come and not get overwhelmed by them if they all start to stack up on you.”
Mental health problems have become more normalized over the past few years. But Lamb said there are still many, many people who don’t talk about it. And therefore he urges people to ask their friends and loved ones about how they are doing.
“Check in on them to make sure that they are doing all right and are doing okay. And if something seems out of order or they seem like they're acting different in any way and you can notice that change, be willing and have enough courage to go up to them and ask them questions about what's going on with their own life, especially if you care about them,” Lamb said.
“The people around you are the only ones that can really know outside of yourself if you're doing okay or if you're looking like you're acting how you normally do or if something seems like it could be bothering you or stressing you out. And the people who are the strongest have the best ability to hide those times when they're feeling really down. So being willing to ask those questions and put yourself out there for the people around you to make sure that they're doing okay.”
Lamb has learned the importance of strong mental health over the past few years. He found himself in a dark spot in December 2018 during his third season in college at the University of Vermont. Things were so bad and he didn’t feel like he had a support system around him that he considered committing suicide – contemplating jumping off a bridge late at night in Washington, D.C.
Lamb fought off those dark thoughts and returned to the hotel where his team was staying during a tournament in the D.C. area – many of his teammates and team staff not even knowing he had slipped out.
Lamb has worked his way up to big heights in the game since then.
He ended up playing 94 games in the NBA over three seasons, even getting a chance to play alongside veteran greats like Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green on the Golden State Warriors in 2022-23.
“Learning from Steph, Clay, and Draymond at a younger age, it was cool to see how they prepared for the season and what they did at that point in their career to stay healthy, to manage the pressure of what the Warriors are and how much everybody shows them support but also how everybody wants to beat them, especially because they were coming off the championship year,” he said.
“So it was cool to see how professionals and Hall of Famers handled themselves in order to remain at the top and continue to play for such a long time. Those guys had 10 plus more years of experience than me. And to learn how they prepared every day definitely helped me a lot in my career.”
Lamb would eventually land with the New Zealand Breakers of the Australian NBL last season and was named to the All-NBL First Team. That came even though he missed the final month of the season after going down with a torn Achilles tendon in early February 2024.
“Missing the end of the year with the Breakers was definitely really hard. I'd fought the whole year and everybody on my team was fighting injuries, but not being able to finish out the season. It sucked, honestly,” he said.
That taught Lamb the important lesson that he has to take care of his body on his own.
“It's really important that you're willing to spend money and invest in yourself and in your own body in order to get yourself in the shape that you need to be because the teams pay you, but it's your responsibility to be ready to play at all times in that process,” he said.
Lamb really does understand the importance of taking care of your body… and your mind.