Phycological Support Should Be Contracted In Sport Essay
Should phycological support be contracted in Sport?
In our modern day, sport is highly valued and supported in our society. Our sports hero’s are role models of society and are easily viewed as invincible. However, this is a dangerous assumption as mental illness in sport is beginning to receive light due to the drastic negative effects it has already had on athletes. Athletes develop mental illnesses because of many pressures in the sporting community. This includes the sponsors and sports fans demands and expectations on the athlete’s performance. It is clear that the athletes need support to deal with and eliminate mental illness. However, Stigma promoted by the media encourages athletes to believe that mental illness is a weakness. The …show more content…
athletes do not want to tarnish the view of their fans and will often ignore any symptoms of mental health illnesses, if help is offered, they may refuse or only partially participate. [The UK's leading Sports Psychology Website . 2017.] So how should support be supplied to the athletes?
To completely cater for the athlete's mental health a requirement in contracts of club sports and sponsorship for both club and individual sports must include a decent, ongoing provision for psychological support by professional psychologists. This provision will apply to all athletes, hence no discrimination can take place. This provision will give the support the athletes need and will address issues before they become extreme. Troy Luff, former Sydney Swans player, works as a volunteer consultant for Beyond Blue to help young players identify and address mental illness, as he himself suffered from depression during his football career. More recently Lance “Buddy” Franklin has openly said that he is experiencing mental health issues directly relating to his football career. [SBS News. 2017. What's a good sport?] Would these players not have benefited greatly should they have received the necessary psychological support?
The issue with making this provision is that the industry is money driven and the stigma both within the sporting fraternity and the media is preventing the need of individual athletes from being acknowledged and addressed.
The fans viewing the athletes as sporting hero’s and hero’s are not allowed to be flawed, fans will quickly push aside an athlete they feel is not living up to their expectations, be it realistic or not. [The UK's leading Sports Psychology Website . 2017.] Issues and conflict present within society on political/ethic grounds inadvertently get directed at the athletes that fall within these prejudices, by providing mental support to these athletes the fans disdain of such an athlete is enhanced, thus these easily hyped up fans will openly turn on an athlete and openly mock and reject such an athlete causing more psychological pressure on such an individual. This was clearly evident in the case of AFL player Adam Goodes. [SBS News. 2017. What's a good sport?] The fact that athletes receive psychological support brand the athlete as weak and therefore the individual athletes need to be replaced by a better athlete. Having psychologists work with these athletes does not solve all the problems and may even create problems, this issue deserves more
scrutiny.
The urgent need for more in depth psychological support and addressing and lessening stressors on elite athletes is crucial. This is however a very complex issue with many facets as there are various role players with very different interests in this debate. You have the individual elite athlete, the sponsors, the clubs/leagues/countries and then the fan’s who ultimately need to feel they approve of any actions taken. The clubs/leagues/countries that sign up these elite athletes act as intermediary between the sponsors and fans on the one side and the individual elite athlete on the other side and legislation needs to be put in place that will bring to account the responsibility these clubs/leagues/countries have toward the metal health of their sportsmen and sportswomen.
In our modern day, sport is highly valued and supported in our society. Our sports hero’s are role models of society and are easily viewed as invincible. However, this is a dangerous assumption as mental illness in sport is beginning to receive light due to the drastic negative effects it has already had on athletes. Athletes develop mental illnesses because of many pressures in the sporting community. This includes the sponsors and sports fans demands and expectations on the athlete’s performance. It is clear that the athletes need support to deal with and eliminate mental illness. However, Stigma promoted by the media encourages athletes to believe that mental illness is a weakness. The …show more content…
athletes do not want to tarnish the view of their fans and will often ignore any symptoms of mental health illnesses, if help is offered, they may refuse or only partially participate. [The UK's leading Sports Psychology Website . 2017.] So how should support be supplied to the athletes?
To completely cater for the athlete's mental health a requirement in contracts of club sports and sponsorship for both club and individual sports must include a decent, ongoing provision for psychological support by professional psychologists. This provision will apply to all athletes, hence no discrimination can take place. This provision will give the support the athletes need and will address issues before they become extreme. Troy Luff, former Sydney Swans player, works as a volunteer consultant for Beyond Blue to help young players identify and address mental illness, as he himself suffered from depression during his football career. More recently Lance “Buddy” Franklin has openly said that he is experiencing mental health issues directly relating to his football career. [SBS News. 2017. What's a good sport?] Would these players not have benefited greatly should they have received the necessary psychological support?
The issue with making this provision is that the industry is money driven and the stigma both within the sporting fraternity and the media is preventing the need of individual athletes from being acknowledged and addressed.
The fans viewing the athletes as sporting hero’s and hero’s are not allowed to be flawed, fans will quickly push aside an athlete they feel is not living up to their expectations, be it realistic or not. [The UK's leading Sports Psychology Website . 2017.] Issues and conflict present within society on political/ethic grounds inadvertently get directed at the athletes that fall within these prejudices, by providing mental support to these athletes the fans disdain of such an athlete is enhanced, thus these easily hyped up fans will openly turn on an athlete and openly mock and reject such an athlete causing more psychological pressure on such an individual. This was clearly evident in the case of AFL player Adam Goodes. [SBS News. 2017. What's a good sport?] The fact that athletes receive psychological support brand the athlete as weak and therefore the individual athletes need to be replaced by a better athlete. Having psychologists work with these athletes does not solve all the problems and may even create problems, this issue deserves more
scrutiny.
The urgent need for more in depth psychological support and addressing and lessening stressors on elite athletes is crucial. This is however a very complex issue with many facets as there are various role players with very different interests in this debate. You have the individual elite athlete, the sponsors, the clubs/leagues/countries and then the fan’s who ultimately need to feel they approve of any actions taken. The clubs/leagues/countries that sign up these elite athletes act as intermediary between the sponsors and fans on the one side and the individual elite athlete on the other side and legislation needs to be put in place that will bring to account the responsibility these clubs/leagues/countries have toward the metal health of their sportsmen and sportswomen.