A Moncton teen is hoping to help other young athletes put competition into perspective by releasing a song about the pressure that some players feel to be perfect.

Grade 12 student Jessica McKillop said she wanted to  use her voice to help other young athletes find an escape from the pressure to compete.

“When I feel overwhelmed or overwhelmed with school or anything, I just pick up my guitar and sing,” she said.

The longtime student-athlete has written a song about the pressure she’s felt over the years not to show her softer side.

“From the time that athletes are eight or nine years old we are taught to be tough and not be vulnerable and really not to show any emotion,” she said.

McKillop said she started playing basketball at four years old and eventually made her way onto the varsity team in high school and the pressure she put on herself to compete mounted.

“Sometimes it just gets to be a lot to balance everything.”

She said it’s a feeling she tried to express in her powerful lyrics. Her song Expectations highlights the pressure that some young players feel spending hours on the court for practice while trying to juggle school, friends and family.

McKilliop said when basketball was cancelled at the beginning of the pandemic, it gave her a chance to take a step back and see things from a different perspective. Now that she is back playing, she says she appreciates practices more and tries to “have a little bit more fun.”

There will always be pressure to compete, which is why her mom, Michelle McKillop, said she is so grateful that her daughter has found her voice and an outlet for her feelings.

“I have seen her come home from games or practices and her come in her room and I don’t see her for hours and the next thing you know I hear the guitar,” said her mom.

McKillop said she hopes her song will let other young athletes know that they are not alone.

“It is important to know that you are not alone and it is even more important to know that vulnerability is strength.”