Making mental health essential in sports

The matter of mental health among our sportsmen and sportswomen is gaining greater significance all round.

This, as the unfolding of issues relative to mental health and how it affects performance in sports, has taken a front seat in the matrices.

And, there are those inextricable connections between the two, thus increasing the relevance to both.

Research shows that mental factors account for about 23 per cent of an athlete’s performance. The thought is that it accounts for more, given the specific characteristics of the athletes in question.

Of importance too, is the status of the athletes, as amateur ones may need less mental preparation than the professionals, as the need to perform and the stakes are higher for the latter.

Sports in its general context has several noble intents- social, biological as well as psychological, to say the least. Therefore, being involved in sports is a ready made conduit for happier participants and better adaptive individuals.

Also, sports tends to calm the mind, improve overall well- being and offer fewer symptoms of anxiety, depression tending to make for more relaxed beings.

Being relaxed, motivated, have that regulated self- confidence, focused and possessing that mental space to perform and more so, achieve, are pre -requirements that have to be in place, before an athlete steps out to compete.

Even though many of these ingredients have been ticked off, there are always external factors that could infiltrate and derail the well -meaning safe haven for those who are engaged directly in sports.

The reality though is that many of our sportsmen and sportswomen are grappling with issues of identity.

The pressures of life, and in the absence of coping skills and lack of psycho- social support, often lead some down an undesirable pathway.

Additionally, through the lack of training and detection techniques, some get missed; they fall through the cracks, leave sports totally and gravitate to what they assume as more welcoming.

As such, some resort to social groups that promote negative behaviours, resulting in dire consequences.

Even those who made the wise choice to stay with their respective sporting disciplines, may do so without that burning desire, hence, have one foot in and the other out.

Such players display reactions that are often deemed as “rude”, “out of place”, “hard to go with” among other labels.

Therefore, coaches, managers and administrators in general have to be equipped with other skill sets to offset, negate or even eliminate some of these debilitating occurrences.

This makes the job of the backroom staff even harder, as they have that added responsibility of diagnosis and furthermore, provide the appropriate remedies and referrals.

The situation is compounded as the athletes are given the attention they need, the coaches et al, also have their internal issues to contend with in their personal space, and are under the microscope to deliver as well.

But as sports continues to evolve and the dynamisms take effect, over time we have seen the gradual emergence of sports psychologists, mental coaches and performance managers.

These trained personnel relieve the burden of the technical managers, leaving them to dispense their duties in a more effective way.

St Vincent and the Grenadines, however, is making baby steps in this regard. But, as we transition into the realm of staying pace with the demands of the world of sports, making basic spot checks of our sportsmen and sportswomen, holds key to the prevention of potential sporting talents going to waste.

We have been through that experience, as a few of our promising sportsmen and sportswomen have been suicidal, detoured to deviant courses, become vagrants and drug addicts.

Whilst there will never be a 100 per cent success rate of veering athletes away from anti- social behaviours, that push by teams, clubs, community groups and national sporting associations/unions and federations, for mental health in sports, is needed as a part of the overall efforts to help our athletes.

Until we reach the point of having individual mental coaches, let us collaborate in the interim and share the all important human resources, through networking.