Sport’s governing bodies are now doing more to
improve wellbeing. Earlier this year, Prince
William launched a new mental health campaign
alongside the FA called ‘Heads Up’ (Getty)As has been stressed to The Independent, introducing more psychotherapists to the sporting domain would
similarly help to merge the preservation of athlete welfare with the struggle for glory – without blunting
sport’s dramatic edges.
For psychotherapist Gary Bloom, the philosophy of ‘winning at all costs’ – and the mental strain that this
brings – needs to be flipped on its head whereby failure isn’t feared but embraced. “Sports people are not
allowed to have bad days and look at how they crack,” he says. “An olympic ice-skater who reaches gold-
medal standard is at that standard because they’ve fallen on their backside a thousand times. Those mistakes
and errors are key to the success.
“I think working with sports people, trying to introduce into their psyche that they don’t always have to be
brilliant to be very effective and that if they lose an event ... you actually learn more. You always learn a lot
more losing than you ever do winning.”
In challenging the catastrophisation of failure, and appreciating that defeat can be used as a learning tool on
the road to improvement, the turmoil that arises in chasing success can be softened. But putting this theory
into practice is easier said than done. Without the support of the clubs and authorities in bringing in the
right people, the conversation around mental health will only go so far.
Of course, there are those mentally draining aspects of elite sport which cannot be avoided. Indeed, the
setback of an injury is something the vast majority of elite athletes have faced at one point in their career.
However, the manner in which an individual approaches an injury – and the support provided – is crucial in
shaping their psychological response.
As explored in Part Two of the series, athletes are often pushed to the periphery during times of injury. The
inability to train alongside teammates, and the disruption this brings to an individual’s routine, is to be
expected. But the sense of alienation that comes with it shouldn’t be.
In team sports, it’s often the simple acts which can make the greatest difference: bringing an injured player
along to an away game, finding them coaching opportunities within the club, or involving these individuals
in tactical debriefs ahead of fixtures. “It would be nice for clubs to interact and engage with players with
long-term injuries,” says Michael Bennet, head of welfare at the PFA. “Some clubs do that. Some clubs
don’t. Every club is different.”
Out of sight and out of mind, an injured athlete is mentally vulnerable. But if kept part of the sporting
picture, and made to feel valued by their club or organisation, this can help to keep at bay those thoughts of
negativity which precipitate a crisis in mental health.