Sports Psychology is something that has been greatly deficient in the Sporting Industry. When you consider the fact that sports requires as much mental strength as it does physical strength you will see the need for change.
From Maradonna to much recently Mesut Ozil we have seen the various forms of psychological trauma most Sports men go through. The thing is that people are always quick to judge without first asking the right questions.
People know that Maradonna did drugs and also became obese. Some asked questions like, why will a national and Worldwide hero dabble into things like drugs? . Does he not know that the younger generation looks up to him ?
In all this happennings, it was very few people that were asking the right questions. Questions like : What have we really done to preserve the mental health of our Sportsmen?
For starters, on the pitch Sportsmen go through a lot of pressure to perform. For countries like China that has a population of over two Billion, those eleven players on the pitch are practically the hopes of Billions of people on their shoulders and if they fail they will face lots of backlash.
Karius the Liverpool goalkeeper faced a lot of backlash both online and in person after he made some terrible mistakes against Real Madrid in the Champions League Final.
People did not care about th fact that he was one of the reasons Liverpool even made it to the Finals. They demonized him and many people still tag his name whenever a Goal Keeper fumbles.
And it is not just about Pros. It affects the Rookies more. There are very few initiatives out there that work to prepare them for sudden fame. For an Athlete an Olympic event can make a huge difference in their lives. They move from being checked upon by friends and Family to being thrown out in the full glare of the World.
Microscopic details of their lives which was once unknown becomes Newspapers headlines. Things and Mistakes that they wanted to stay hidden suddenly become topics for both online and offline discussions.
Depending on the weight of the matter, a player who is not ready to handle issues like that may just slide towards the wrong practices to keep their head calm. Some start doing drugs just to numb the emotional pain that comes with the limelight.
Sports Psychology is deeply needed and should ben given as more prirority as the Players physical health. And everyone has a role to play even us who are fans. We should always judge the weight of the words we use about players on Social media. You can never know the Mental state of someone from afar and the wrong situation can lead to sad endings.
We have heard of Footballers who commited suicide due to what thye passed through. Eboue who played for Arsenal commited suicide this year after some messy divorce court battles with his Wife that left him penniless and homeless.
Some players earn a lot but retire with nothing because they lacked proper financial management and advice. It can be overwhelming for a young kid who was once struggling and lived hand to mouth and all of a sudden he got picked by a club and started earning millions yearly.
If the person is not prepared to handle that kind of Life it may spell doom in the later years. It is easy to get sucked into a Life of Parties, Fast Cars and strings of lovers , and most stuble here because no one prepared them for a Life of fame and fortune.
Living a life of fame means constant survillance by the Media. They will always be in hand to report any of your illicit activities and this in turn puts greater pressure on players.
If you have a Family member or anyone you know who plays sports and are serious on going professional with it. Make sure to be on hand to help the person get psychological help and training so that he or she will be ready whenever the fame comes.
Thats the best investment you can make in the Life of that person. Not just buying them kits or showing up to cheer for them in their games. Make sure that they are psychologically ready for the Limelight
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