Sport. Athletes. Elite athletes. Champions. Human beings.

Mental health. Performance anxiety. Emotions. Human beings.

Self-identity and self-worth.

SUPPORT IS KEY.

I feel as though I could stop this blog here, in less than twenty words I have written my key message. Athletes need support, mental support to be precise. What an athlete must juggle on a daily basis combined with the desire to perform well is stressful on their system. Throw in a couple of setbacks (e.g. injury or underperformance) and what was a finely tuned machine becomes threatened. The safety found in routines and schedules starts to diminish and the nervous system begins to react. The mind and body start to react differently and a loss of control may start to creep in.

The impact of stressors, for example, illness, burnout, injury, retirement and underperformance that athletes face may not be fully understood by those closest to them. The load of these stressors weighs in on an athletes’ entire livelihood. Deeper than that, it is linked to an athletes’ identity which is entangled in their self-worth. So, an athlete consistently underperforms and suddenly they are starting to question, what am I without sport? Athletes should be receiving ongoing support, not just when things start to deteriorate.  

The body and mind are so interconnected that one can positively or negatively impact the other. It is important that the relationship between mind and body is stable. That way the finely tuned machine can cope and move forward in a healthy manner, even after setbacks. To achieve this, psychological scaffolding is first and foremost, for supporting an athlete. That means, ensuring the athlete has the basic self-help tools to ensure their systems don’t become overloaded. Once this is achieved, a deeper exploration can begin whereby athletes become self-aware; they learn the language of their own mind (neurolinguistics). From here, athletes can create transformational change so that their future is aligned with who they are and what they want.  

Having been on my personal journey with burnout, the key for me was the psychological education and exploration that allowed my physical body to heal. The place that my mind and body lived in before was in a chronic state of stress which was no environment to heal. I personally understand the challenges, hardships, uncomfortable conversations and emotions that are necessary to go through that now allow me to live in a warm and safe place where healing and growing can continue.