Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, athletes have expressed significant grief and frustration, attributed to alterations in routine, limited or modified training and the postponement of sporting events across the globe.1 2 The additional strain from the removal of team support networks, which are often crucial components for stress management,1 can result in significant mental and physical health consequences, including low mood, sleep disruption, worsening diet and deconditioning.2 There is a current lack of attention on the unique mental health needs of student-athletes (ie, athletes who participate in secondary or postsecondary school sport programmes during their academic studies) during the COVID-19 pandemic, leading to a limited response from sporting organisations and academic institutions in addressing athlete-specific concerns.3 Accordingly, the purpose of this editorial is to suggest directions for future research and provide recommendations to ensure the mental health needs of student-athletes are met during this period of extraordinary disruption and uncertainty. ### Student versus student-athlete mental health during COVID-19 The college student population already exhibits high levels of psychological distress in non-pandemic settings,4 which has worsened as a result of the pandemic.5–7 A Chinese study of 7143 college students identified the presence of mild to severe anxiety in a quarter (24.9%) of their sample, noting that the severity of anxiety symptoms were positively correlated to academic delays ( r =0.315, p
