Book Review: Retired - What Happens to Footballers when the Game's up

'Almost half of professional footballers face the threat of bankruptcy within five years of their retirement. A third will be divorced less than a year after hanging up their boots... many end up addicted, depressed, living with debilitating illnesses, behind bars or even worse.' So writes Alen Gernon in his thought-provoking book about life after football.

I bought this book because of my interest in the difficulties sportspeople face when they retire rather than my interest in football. While I can accept that footballers are a little bit more three-dimensional than the common perception of over-paid, attention-seeking tugs, I didn't expect to be almost feeling sorry for them by the time I'd finished the 256-page, easy to read publication.

The initial chapters each covered one of the main, often inter-related, tragedies facing retired footballers - the crippling after effects of physical and mental injury, divorce, bankruptcy, mental health issues, run-ins with the law - and while the issues are not unique to football, it is the sheer frequency that they occur which startles.

These chapters didn't really contain anything new for me - though to be fair I have already read extensively on the area of retirement and mental health issues in sport - and they were occasionally repetitive. However, the book really came to life in the latter chapters. The stories of players who retired early, by choice, from the game - those of Shane Supple, Espen Baardsen and David Bentley - really hammer home how toxic the football environment can be for some, and how, despite increased support, preparing players for life in the 'real world' is not always an expected function of the sport.

As always it's those that we don't hear about that have the most interesting stories to tell, and Gernon should be commended for collating and putting context to those less well known stories.

This book is definitely worth a read for those who would like to understand football and footballers a little deeper as well as those who work with transitional footballers of all ages. It is a gentle reminder of the responsibilities we have for the welfare, as well as the sporting performance, of those who we support.

Transferable skills

Athletes who have been training full time their whole adult life often find it difficult to find a job once they retire. Without relevant experience in the working world, they may rely on transferable skills to give them a boost. Too often, however, we see CVs with skills listed as: ‘passion, teamwork, hardworking, works off own initiative’, or something along those lines. Show me somebody that couldn’t list those as skills!

When applying for graduate entry jobs, or roles that you don’t have specific work-based experience for, you need to think about your ‘super strengths’ or unique selling points. Think about qualities and skills that you have which will separate you from applicants and think about clear examples of where you’ve demonstrated these skills or qualities.

Useful frameworks to build examples around are ‘Challenge, Strength, Result’ or ‘Problem, Action, Result’. What problem or challenge were you faced with? What action did you take, and what was the result of your actions?

Some transferable skills that you might possess as an athlete include the following:

Self improvement

Many athletes, particularly those who have been striving for perfection for a number of years, are committed to personal development and self-improvement. Those looking for marginal gains are often self-critical (in a positive way), willing to accept feedback, aware of blind spots and dedicated to making improvements in all aspects of their performance. These skills and qualities can be useful in a variety of roles.

Problem solving and working with others to overcome a challenge

We don’t always think of the sporting field as a problem-solving environment, but think about the decisions that you and your team have to make on a regular basis in a high pressured environment. Overcoming an injury and putting together a rehabilitation plan may demonstrate problem solving skills, as may addressing defensive issues as a team, or adapting tactics following a last minute injury to a key player.  Putting forward suggestions, listening to others suggestions, devising a plan, reflecting on common goals, and following direction are just some of the important aspects of the problem solving process.

Communication skills

Being able to communicate with a variety of individuals in a variety of positions, is often something that employers look for. Think about all the people that you communicate with on a regular basis and how you communicate with them. Athletes often develop mature relationships with adults and people in authority from an early age. The coach-athlete relationship is one often reflects employer-employee relationships. The way in which athletes communicate with funders or sponsors, national governing bodies, appeals committees, and the media tends to be similar to the communication styles required in worked-based situations. Managing relationships with teammates is similar to managing relationships with colleagues. Any experience you have mentoring young athletes or less experienced teammates, coaching or officiating, or making guest speaker appearances will further demonstrate an ability to communicate with a diverse range of people. Make a map of who you communicate with on a regular basis, the roles that those people fill, and the ways in which you communicate with them.

Resilience

Few athletes reach the top of their sport without demonstrating resilience and an ability to repeatedly overcome setback. Think about how appealing your ability to refocus, reassess goals and adapt your methods following setbacks, and your ability to continue to work towards your ultimate aim, no matter what life throws at you, would be to a potential employer.

Commitment to excellence

The ability to demonstrating a commitment to excellence is likely to be appreciated by many employers. Those who demonstrate a commitment to excellence in their sport are likely to commit to excellence in other aspects of their lives. Wanting to be the best you can be, taking ownership of you life in order to achieve excellence, and being able to build a support team around yourself who also want to excel are abilities which are desirable in most work settings.

These are just some examples of skills that you may have developed as an athlete which may appeal to potential employers. Think about the things that you do in your sporting life, and how the skills and qualities required to be a top athlete can be applied to the workplace. Remember to think outside of the box and to avoid vague terms such as passion, teamwork and hardworking, unless you have very specific examples which separate you from the 99% of other applicants who will also list these skills on their application form.

Why is depression so common in sport?

PDF version of this piece to download

Think of your sporting hero. Chances are you're thinking of somebody that you see as a real winner. Somebody with seemingly superhuman qualities. Somebody who can overcome the most challenging of obstacles. Somebody who personifies physical and mental strength. Somebody who is invincible.

Mental illness is probably not something that you associate with your sporting heroes.  Yet, a surprising number of world class athletes suffer from depression, anxiety, addiction, eating disorders and other mental illnesses. On an almost weekly basis we hear of another high level athlete suffering from depression, and many more continue to suffer in silence.  Kelly Holmes has admitted to self-harm during an illustrious career which saw her become a double Olympic Champion. Ian Thorpe, a five-time Olympic swimming champion, was admitted to rehab for depression in 2014. Boxers Ricky Hatton, Frank Bruno and Mike Tyson, jockeys Frankie Dettori and Mark Enright, and footballers Paul Gascoigne, Neil Lennon, Stan Collymore and Clarke Carlisle are among the many well-known sports stars to have admitted to periods of depression. In a previous blog post we have looked at the life, and death, of Robert Enke, the former German goalkeeper who took his own life in 2009. Just last week, Olympic medallist and former badminton player Gail Emms became the latest sportsperson to speak about suffering depression after retirement.

So why are athletes, people that we see as invincible superhumans, so susceptible to mental illness? Do the perceived superhuman qualities in themselves play a part?

Kelly Holmes, one of the many high profile sports start to have suffered from depression during her career
By Russell Garner derivative work: MachoCarioca (Kelly_Holmes_at_Athens_2004.jpg) [CC BY-SA 2.0], via Wikimedia Commons

Mental illness in cricket

England cricketer Marcus Trescothick returned home from the 2006-07 Ashes in Australia due to a 'recurrence of a stress-related illness'.  Despite several attempts, Trescothick never returned to play for England, and announced his retirement from the international game in 2008, seemingly unable to cope with the stress of touring.  In his autobiography, Coming Back to Me, released later that year, Trescothick revealed that he had suffered from anxiety attacks since he was 10.

Cricketers appear to be at particularly at risk.  As is well known, mental health issues are higher in men than in women, and so, in a male dominated sport, it's no coincidence that depression is common. But it would appear that there's more to it than that.  Writing in the wake of the Trescothick case, Geoffrey Boycott blames the congested international test calendar, and states that 'the burden of playing non-stop cricket is taking its toll'.  This may be a slightly simplistic view.  An online article by Antionette Muller (2013), looked at why cricketers, more than other sports people, are at risk.  She concluded that the long periods of time spent away from home, the pressure of top-level, high-profile sport, and the game itself were contributing factors.

Cricketers can spend as much as half the year on tour, and a disproportionate amount of that time, particularly during test matches, is spent waiting to bat, or to bowl.  Skill is important, but luck also plays a major factor, and after waiting for hours to have their chance in the spotlight, a highly-skilled batter can often be left reflecting on why they are walking off the field without even hitting a ball. Knowing that their public perception and perhaps their place on the team are dependent on their latest performance, it's little wonder that cricketers are at risk of developing a distorted perception of their own self worth.  And the long periods of inactivity in hotel rooms and media analysis which follows provides the perfect conditions for such distorted perceptions to fester, distort further and ingrain themselves in the individual's psyche.

A batter's performance can last anything from a single ball, to a prolonged innings stretching over the course of two days, with a completely unpredictable outcome to each ball bowled in their direction. In few other sports is the duration of the performance so unpredictable. In many sports, the better you perform, the shorter the race or match.  In cricket, the complete opposite is true.

In cricket, more so than in other sports, there is a lot of time to contemplate failure, but not an awful lot of time to celebrate success.

In his book Silence of the heart: cricket suicides (2001), David Frith poses a further, important question:

'... does cricket more than any other game, actually attract the susceptible by virtue of its wicked, teasing uncertainties, its long-drawn-out routine, its compulsive, all-consuming commitment? Or conversely, by its sometimes cruel and frustrating pattern, does it gradually transform unwary cricket-loving boys into brooding, insecure and ultimately self-destructive men when the best days are past?'

This is one of the points that former New Zealand cricketer Iain O'Brien touches on in the excellent video which follows. O'Brien also speaks about his own depression and the social anxiety that he experienced as a player. He felt at home on the park, but it was in the dressing room that O'Brien was least comfortable, and he spend much of his career trying to fit in with the other personalities on the team.

Cricket governing bodies are starting to recognise the mental health issues within their sport, and steps are being taken to help prevent depression.  More needs to be done, but recognising the problem and being willing to implement change are important first steps.

The stresses and strains of cricket appear to contribute to the high rates of depression and anxiety among it's players
Photo credit: Matthew Bowden www.digitallyrefreshing.com, via Wikimedia Commons

Mental illness in football

Football, too, appears to have an above average incidence of mental illness. Research carried out by the international footballers association, FIFAPro, reported that just over a quarter of 149 current players and 39% of 104 former footballers experienced anxiety and/or depression (Gouttebarge, 2015).  While there may have been a response bias (the response rate was 29%), these are pretty stark results. Recent life events and low social support were among the factors significantly associated with mental health problems in this study.

In reports associated with this study (Telegraph Sport and agencies, 2014), former New Zealand captain Chris Jackson, linked his disappointment at not making it into European football with his depression and substance abuse. Jackson says:

'I had and still have a lot of anxiety regarding performance. The pressure bottled up for years particularly when I captained different teams and had to be the face of the team when going through tough times.'

The wellbeing section of the Professional Footballer's Association website deals predominantly with depression and mental wellbeing.  It has four important subsections, each looking at a section of the footballer's life and the predominant associated feeling or emotion: Change & Anxiety, Contracts & Stress, Performance & Panic and Retirement & Anger.  This grouping highlights the main risk areas for players.  It also recognises the role of emotions in mental illness.

In a male dominated environment, machoism and a pressure to confirm no doubt play a part, and there would be, at least until recently, a stigma associated with mental health, which, no doubt would prevent players from seeking help. Players are typically involved in football-focused surroundings from a very early age and few top players earn qualifications outside of their sport. This increases the likelihood of identity and retirement related issues discussed later.  Players at the top level, more so than in other sports, live out their lives is the media spotlight.  Constantly moving clubs can also have an effect.

Football is a sport where your worth as a players is dependent on how much you earn, or how much you are sold for. Consequently, time lost through injury, a lack of form, or a run of bad luck can adversely affect your perceived value as a player, and if internalised, your self worth.

'I'd just suffered a severe knee injury and had convinced myself that without football people would see me for what I really was, which was nothing. I sat on a bench in that park, washed the pills down with a can of beer, and waited for it to happen.' (Carlisle, 2013)

These are the words of Clarke Carlisle, speaking about his suicide attempt aged just 21, in a BBC website piece promoting his 2013 BBC Three documentary Football's Suicide Secret.  Carlisle was found in time and had his stomach pumped, though depression and alcoholism dogged his career and he made further attempts to take his life.  While Carlisle will always suffer from the illness, he is now actively involved in increasing awareness of the disease and ensuring that others in his position are supported.

In an interview following the launch of the Mental Health Charter for Sport and Recreation last week (Liew, 2015), Carlisle pointed to another important factor within football that may explain high mental illness rates - the unnatural social environment in which footballers often find themselves:

'I was in the sport for 17 years, and I could count on two hands the number of genuine life friends I've made. That's just a by-product of the industry. You're there for a month, a year, if you're lucky three years. In training there are five centre-halves, and I'm fighting against at least three of them to get in the side. Then you're sold the next day, and all of that team are now opponents. It's a very complex dynamic, and it's incredibly hard to make genuine life friends in that situation.' (Liew, 2015)

High disposable incomes can lead to gambling and substance abuse, and may in turn may lead to depression.  Not having interests or work outside of football may increase the likelihood of psychosocial problems such as these, particularly when a player is injured or not getting game time.

Mental illness in other sports

Rugby league is among the other sports which recently recognised that it has a mental health problem.  Many of the factors associated with depression in football may also play a part here. Constant pressure to perform and media spotlight, along with issues surrounding injury and lack of form, are likely to play a large part.

Boxing, particularly at a professional level, also seems to have a major problem.  In addition to Hatton, Bruno and Tyson - who all have had mental health issues - there have been a number of suicides in the sport.  Jonny Tapia, a five times world champion, and Lewis Pinto, a promising young super middleweight fighter, both ended their own lives in May 2012.  Irish 2008 Olympic bronze medallist Darren Sutherland's death in 2009, not long after turning professional, is presumed to have been by suicide.  He too had suffered from depression.

Along with all the aforementioned issues, repeated brain injury, making weight, inconsistent income, a long time between fights and the bravado and intense rivalries surrounding fights, could all contribute to the high rate of suicide and depression in boxing. Another important factor is the extreme self believe that goes alongside fighting. This focus on the positives, and complete dismissal of vulnerabilities, weaknesses and fears, and its effect on mental health will be discussed in more detail later, but is probably most evident in a sport where the aim of your opponent is to literally knock you out.

Highlighting these sports and some of the factors within them may help us gain a better understanding of mental illnesses, the unique pressures that sportspeople face, and what can be done to prevent depression.  But it should not detract from the fact that no sport is immune to depression and mental illness.  Gaelic footballers and hurlers, who do not have the money, lack of distraction and changing team issues evident in football, are also at risk.

Identity and purpose

Depression is highly associated with identity issues, low self-esteem, and a low sense of self-worth. While it is unknown whether low self-esteem and low self-worth cause depression, or are as a result of it, there is considerable evidence to suggest that identity issues in athletes can lead to depression.

Athletic identity, the degree to which an individual feels that his or her identity is built around his or her role as an athlete, is a major factor in determining the degree of depression felt by an injured athlete.  Athletic identity is also a major cause of post retirement depression in sportspeople. When the thing that a person feels defines them and gives them purpose is taken away, their self-esteem and purpose diminishes.

Temperament and personality traits

Various personality traits common in successful athletes have been associated with mental illness, though much more research is required to ascertain whether susceptible personalities are attracted to sport, or sport 'creates' susceptible personality characteristics. As was suggested in relation to cricket, individuals with certain traits may be attracted to certain activities, and these traits may predispose them to depression and anxiety. A form of natural selection may exist, meaning that the most successful athletes are those who are most susceptible to depression.

Perfectionism has been associated with various forms of maladjustment, particularly in sports (Hewitt, 1990). Flett and Hewitt (2005) have identified and described what they call the perfectionism paradox - the way in which certain sports require athletes to achieve perfect performance outcomes, though being 'cognitively preoccupied with the attainment of perfection often undermines performance and fosters a sense of dissatisfaction with performance'. In addition to maladjustment, this obsession with perfectionism can actually hinder sporting performance.

Research by the Black Dog Institute indicates that those with certain temperament and personality styles are at a greater risk of developing depression. Among the susceptible personality and temperament styles are self-focused and perfectionistic personalities, both of which may be high among sports people.

Obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) is just one of the mental disorders for which former footballer Paul Gascoigne has received treatment. He has also suffered from bipolar disorder, alcoholism and eating disorders. Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is highly linked with depression, and some aspects of high performance sport may contribute to the development of OCD  (Aldhous, 2009). Those susceptible to OCD may, of course, be attracted to certain skilled sports sports to begin with, and there is little, if any evidence to link OCD in such cases with depression.

Retirement

Examples of sportspeople who have struggled with the 'loss' that comes with retirement are plentiful. Indeed, research by the Professional Players Federation, published in 2013, found that 16% of 1200 ex-footballers, rugby union and rugby league players, jockeys and cricketers surveyed experienced depression or feelings of despair in the 12 months post retirement.

In 2014, Rubgy League star and former Great Britain player Sean Long admitted to attempting suicide, having struggled to cope since being forced to give up the game, due to injury, in 2011.

'I didn't finish playing on my terms really. It was the injuries...I didn't know at the time but I've had depression and suffered from anxiety over two-and-a-half years.'

Those who are forced to retire because of injury or deselection generally have greater difficulty in adjusting to life after sport than those who retire on their own terms.  Forced retirement is often followed by a period of grieving, as the individual attempts to come to terms with their loss.

But even those who retire on their own terms can struggle, as athletes lose their perceived purpose in life, the structure and routine which they have lived around for so many years and, for some, their livelihood. Others simply miss the endorphin kick that comes with exercise. Endorphins are, of course, a natural antidepressant.

Athletic identity, the degree to which an individual feels that his or her identity is built around his or her role as an athlete, is also a major factor in determining the degree of depression felt by an athlete post retirement. Planning for retirement is an important determinant for successfully transitioning from the life of an athlete to the life of an ex-athlete, and finding meaning and purpose in the world outside of sport is crucial.

Gail Emms recently spoke about suffering from depression after retiring, and stated that it was only when she had her first child that she found a new meaning to her life. Hers is just one of thousands of stories

Retirement and the associated problems will be dealt with in more detail in a forthcoming post.

Post Olympic blues

The aftermath of an Olympic Games, FIFA World Cup, or other major sporting can be a major breathing ground for depression and addiction. Post Olympic Depression Syndrome (or Post Olympic Stress Disorder, as it is sometimes known) is a well-known phenomenon, and not just something that is experienced by the fans! Even (or more accurately, especially) athletes that have been successful suffer from the condition. Only a small proportion of the world's population will ever win an Olympic gold medal, and no medal comes with an instruction manual on how to deal to the emotions that go along with it.

After a major sporting event as big as the Olympics, athletes struggle to adjust to normal life and find their place in the world.  For many athletes, the completion of a Games coincides with retirement or an unplanned for future, with some having put off retirement decisions until after the Olympics. Identity and retirement issues have been dealt with earlier, so only get a passing mention here.

Other causes of Post Olympic Depression Syndrome relate to coming down from a massive high, dealing with becoming famous, a sudden lack of routine, achievement of extrinsic goals or dealing with failure on the world's greatest stage, and simply readjusting to life in the real world.

An overwhealming majority (77%) of surveyed South African participants at the 2000 Olympic Games  reported subjective feelings of post-Olympic depression (Portgieter, 2001). Of these, 27% reported 'extreme' depression after the Games.

The Olympics provide a platform for successful athletes, particularly in minority sports, to gain media attention. Athletes previously unknown to the outside world find themselves in a strange and unfamiliar place; one which some may find particularly stressful. While some gain the recognition that they have craved for so long, many struggle to come to terms with their new found fame and the social and media demands that go along with success.

Bradley Wiggins is just one of the numerous athletes to have suffered depression and addiction after the Olympics. In his 2008 autobiography Wiggins revealed how, having little else to do with his time, he found himself waiting outside his local pub at 11am each day, for a period of 8 or 9 months following the 2004 Olympic Games. 'I wasn't just drinking for England during this period, I wasn't quite at the races mentally either. For a while my life threatened to spiral out of control.' He had won 3 medals, including his first gold in Athens.

For Wiggins, it was not the fame, but the lack of fame, which was most difficult to deal with. He expected things to change after the Olympics. He thought that sponsorship and endorsements would come flooding in and things to be a little easier financially. They didn't. In a 2008 interview (McRae, 2008), Wiggins says:

"You end up trying to give the perception you've got a bit of money. 'Yeah, it's great, lots of offers rolling in ...' The reality was quite different. I woke up every Monday morning and we were still overdrawn and I'd think, 'God, I don't feel like riding my bike again.' There was a bitterness that nothing had changed after all the hard work but it went deeper than that. I'm not saying I was clinically depressed but there were definite bouts of depression - and lots of drinking."

Those who are extrinsically driven and motivated purely by winning are more likely to suffer from post Olympic depression than those who are motivated by the process.

Those who were successful and achieved their goals may suffer from something known as post achievement depression, similar to the feeling many get following the completion of a PhD thesis or other project in which they have been engrossed for a prolonged period of time.  Post-Olympic blues and post achievement depression are similar in some ways to post-natal depression, post wedding blues, and other emotional come-downs following a 'high'.

Injury

The link between injury and depression can operate on at least three different levels, namely the emotional stress and boredom as a direct result of the injury and subsequent loss of training, the link between any prolonged or chronic pain and depression, and depression as a result of opioid painkillers.

Injury, a constant worry and major interruption to the attainment of their goals, and indeed their livelihood, plays a major role in lives of many athletes.  In most athletes, depression is a short-term response to an injury, and is seen as a normal emotional response to severe injury. In extreme cases, recurrent injury can constitute stress, one of the factors which can lead to major depressive episodes. Boredom, if training is not possible, can also exacerbate the depressed mood.

Athletic identity, the degree to which an individual feels that his or her identity is built around his or her role as an athlete, is a major factor in determining the degree of depression felt by an injured athlete. Like retirement, athletes who see injury as a threat to their core identity are more likely to experience depressed mood during an injury. While this response is depression the emotion, rather than depression the illness, it's likely that prolonged, repeated and severe injury could result in long-term depression.

Though not all injuries involve pain, it is important to note that chronic pain can often go hand in hand with depression.  Both physical and emotional pain are registered in the same part of the brain, which essentially treats depression in the same way as physical pain. Physical pain therefore often causes depression, and depression can worsen the physical pain.  Some antidepressants can actually help relieve the physical as well as the mental pain

Opioid painkillers, often prescribed for chronic pain, have been linked with depression (Scherrer et al., 2014), anxiety, hallucinations and suicidal tendencies.  Their abuse to enhance performance is dealt with the doping section below.

Doping?

While it may be unethical and practically impossible to prove a link between doping in sport and depression, there is at least a theoretical and anecdotal basis for such an association.  Some drugs, including steroids, have been associated with mental disorders, and may result in depression in those who abuse them.

The use and discontinuation of anabolic steroids in particular have been associated with depression (Pope & Katz, 1994) and other mood disturbances and mental disorders such as paranoia, mania, hypomania, steroid dependence and schizophrenia.  Cortiosteroids, a group of steroids often prescribed for injury and other medical conditions and abused by cyclists and other athletes to enhance performance, have also been linked with mood disturbances and depression in a large proportion of users (Patten, 2000).

EPO, the performance enhancing drug of choice for endurance performancers overstepping the doping rules, appears to actually treat depression. However, anecdotal accounts report that cyclists associate depression with the use and discontinuation of EPO.  Amphetamines, beta blockers and cannabinoids, drugs abused to varying degrees in various sports, may also lead to depression.

Opioids, a group of drugs with both pain killing (analgesic) and narcotic properties that includes codeine and Tramadol, among others, appear to be abused in cycling (Benson, 2013), and are taken by riders simply to get them through a race.  This group of substances, though not currently on the WADA banned list, are highly addictive, and can cause a number of nasty side effects, including anxiety, depression, suicidal thoughts and hallucinations. Withdrawal can also cause serious side effects, including insomnia, depression and anxiety.

In her excellent article outlining the high incidence of depression in cycling, Suze Clemitson (2014) proposes that there is a possible link between the prevalence of doping and the seemingly high incidence of mental health issues and suicides in the sport. In the article Clemitson quotes cyclist and whistleblower Jesus Manzona, who says:

'The drugs lead you to other addictions. The anti-depressants almost automatically accompany other doping treatments. I took up to eight pills of prozac a day when I was racing...Prozac cuts the appetite, keeps you in another world, a world where you're not afraid of what you're doing.  You're no longer afraid to inject yourself with all the crap. It takes you to a world where you don't ask any more questions, especially you don't ask your doctor questions either or your sporting director. Then there are periods where you must stop doping you feel like superman. Then one day all of the sudden it stops and you become dramatically depressed.'

When you put it like that...!

A cycle of shame and guilt, a constant fear of being caught, a redirection of one's moral compass as a result of choosing to dope, and dealing with the sense of loss if caught, are just some of the other factors which may result in depression.

While there are many possible causes behind the high rates of depression, suicide and unexplained deaths in cycling, the sport we most associate with doping, there is at least a theoretical link between doping and mental illness.

Concussion and other medical issues

We often think of depression as a purely psychological issue.  But physiological factors may contribute to depression and anxiety. Overtraining, iron-deficiency anaemia and thyroid problems - which can be common in athletes - and a number of other underlying medical conditions may also contribute to a depressed mood or result in similar symptoms.

Among the many symptoms of iron-deficiency anaemia are depression and anxiety, which may result in OCD-type obsessions and compulsions, as well as many of the symptoms of depression itself, including insomnia, irritability and poor appetite. While these depressive symptoms appear to be reversed with treatment, they may lead to full blown depression in those who are already at risk.

Many of the signs and symptoms of overtraining syndrome and depression overlap, making it difficult to establish if overtraining and burnout can cause depression, if depressed mood is simply a reversible symptom of overtraining, or if overtraining syndrome is, in fact, a form of depression experienced by athletes. In addition to sharing many physical and emotional signs and symptoms, biochemical responses, including immune, endocrine, and neourtransmitter patterns, are remarkable similar in the two conditions. The cycle of poor performance and inadequate recovery which result in overtraining could, in theory, independently also lead to depression.

A history of recurrent concussion and head trauma appears to be linked with an increased likelihood of being diagnosed with clinical depression in retired America Football players (Guskiewicz, 2007). Other sportspeople who experience recurrent concussions may also be at risk.

Performance psychology and a focus on winning

Sports psychology is all about winning at all costs, ignoring all weaknesses and negative thoughts, and 'believing' that you can do it.  An unrealistic mental environment in which you believe that you are better than anybody else is often created. There is no room for weakness or vulnerability on the playing field.

While this may be the optimum approach from a performance perspective, it is far removed from everything that psychiatry has thought us. Failing to acknowledge and work through our tiny everyday concerns, worries and weaknesses can lead to major psychological issues in the long term, and in an environment where the focus is always placed on the positive, unbreakable and invincible can remove the opportunity for sportspeople to learn everyday coping skills.

This is not to say that some sports psychologists don't take a holistic approach, or that they fail to deal with everyday concerns and worries, but more that performance psychology in its purest sense can fail to take into account such issues.

Stress

Stress, or a series of stressful events, can trigger depression and anxiety. Performance in itself, particularly under constant media scrutiny, can be seen as a form of stress. While good and bad days are an accepted part of the life of a development athlete, there is little room for an off day for those in the media spotlight. This pressure to perform week in, week out for the duration of an ever extending season can place a lot of stress on a sportsperson, and the fear of a bad performance, while not likely to be the sole cause of depression, may contribute to depression in those that are particularly susceptible.

Defeats, disappointments and failures are accepted steps along the path to the top. Individuals often learn more from their mistakes than they do their successes, and shouldn't be afraid to take risks and to make mistakes along the way. Issues may arise when athletes are suddenly shot into the media spotlight and suddenly feel that they can no longer make mistakes, are not used to having their performance analysed in such a public way, or go through a particularly bad dip in performance.

Trying to maintain a place on a team, making up for previous misfortune or underperformance, or simply trying to reward somebody's belief in you can be additional sources of stress.

Other factors associated with professional sport

Professional sport does much to disempower participants. Those who participate in a very structured and protected environment from a young age (e.g. footballers who join a club academy) rarely have to make major decisions for themselves, and don't go through the same life learning as their peers. The life skills that a typical 18 year old is learning is far removed from those of an 18 year old academy player, and while the typical 18 year old can set out on their voyage of discovery in a pretty anonymous fashion, the professional sportsperson is growing up in the media spotlight. Modern sports support structures often try to make life easy for the sportsperson and reduce the 'stress' in their lives. In doing so, they often reduce the opportunities for athletes to grow and learn, and to deal with manageable amounts of stress.

Professional sportspeople often spend large amounts of time away from home.  Cricketers, for example, often spend months at a time on tour, away from family, and lack certainty and routine. While life on the road may be an ideal life for some, it is not for everyone, and can be particularly difficult for those with young children. Despite being around their team mates, many can feel isolated and lonely. Spending large amounts of time in the presence of those who may be fighting for your place on the team can also be difficult.

Being a fulltime athlete has many advantages. But it also has downsides. Large amounts of downtime can result in boredom, overanalysis of performance and results, or a reduction in self worth, all of which may contribute to the development of depression. Boredom or having time on their hands, together with access to large amounts of cash, may, in turn, lead to problem drinking and substance abuse.

The sports supporter

We always talk about the sports participant, but is there a risk for sports supporters? Participants are, at least most of the time, in control of their own destiny. Once they get out on the pitch or track, they are doing what they can to win, but the supporter can do nothing to control their destiny. They have no arena in which to dissipate the pressure. If superstition is an issue for the player, then what potential does it have to upset the onlooker?

And then there's the off season! Where does the sports fan get their kicks from during the off season? Or do they, like the player, benefit from taking time away from the sport, recuperating from the season's exertions, bringing some sense of balance to their lives, and preparing for the inevitable highs and lows of the season ahead?

It appears that experiencing the blues after a sports related defeat is a common experience among sports fans. Sometimes, after watching their team losing an important game fans can go through a form of grieving. Indeed, some radio phone-in shows after weekend football fixtures sound more like counselling sessions than they do sports programmes. Prolonged post-mortems in modern sport can add to the grief felt by fans, and extend the depressed feelings beyond their natural life (Woods, 2014).

On the flip side, some research suggests that those who have a close affiliation with a sports team have fewer bouts of depression and alienation than those uninterested in sport (Branscombe & Wann, 1991).

And of course, spectators as well as participants can experience post-Olympic blues.

The final paradox

Exercise is a known cure for depression and other forms of mental illness. It is often a prescribed treatment for such illnesses. Chemicals known as endorphins, a form of natural anti-depressant, are released during exercise. Regular exercise can help relieve stress, and provide an opportunity to unwind after a difficult or stressful day. Sports participation can also give individuals a sense of routine and a purpose in life. It can increase self-esteem and feelings of self-worth. And most of all, it can empower.

This seems to contradict everything that has gone before. I guess, like everything in life, a sense of balance is needed. Sport has the power to enrich the lives of those who participate in it, but it also has the power to destroy them. Knowing the risks, spotting the warning signs and recognising that individual growth is more important than winning at all costs, are good first steps in the fight against mental illness in sport.

Conclusion

There are lots of unknowns, and much more research is needed in the area. The question, however, is not whether or not sportspeople are more susceptible to mental illness that the general population. Many top level professional sports are dominated by males in their twenties and early thirties – the group in which mental illness and suicide are at their highest – and so, a high level of mental illness should not be unexpected. Depression, in many cases, is preventable, and the real questions that we should ask is why sport - something that should empower, increase self-esteem, promote self-worth, and allow talented individuals achieve their goals - can, in certain circumstances, take all that away? Why, when exercise is often prescribed as a treatment for depression, does it lead to depression in some, and what can be done to ensure that sports can have positive outcomes for participants at all levels? And finally, and most importantly, are there still barriers stopping those suffering mental illness from seeking help?

No one factor leads to depression, and the information discussed here include hypothetical aspects of sport that may lead to mental illness. We hope that this article will help raise awareness of some of the issues faced by high performance sportspeople, and lead to more open discussion on the topic. Please share your thoughts by commenting below.

Useful reading

    

References

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• Muller, A (2013) Suffering in silence: what makes depression so prevalent among cricketers? Newstatesman online 4/8/2013; accessed 19/2/2015.
• Rice-Oxley, M (2013) How hard has depression hit cricket? The Guardian online 25/11/13; accessed 19/2/15.
• Frith, D (2001) Silence of the heart: cricket suicides. Mainstream Publishing eBooks. Version 1.0.
• SkySports.com (2014) Rugby league legend Sean Long fells more his old self again following suicide bid. Skysports.com 2/3/14; accessed 9/3/15.
• Gouttebarge, V, Frigs-Dresen, M, Sluiter, J (2015) Mental and psychosocial health among current and former professional footballers. Occupational Medicine, Advance Access, published 31/1/15.
• Telegraph Sport, and agencies (2014) One in four footballers suffer depression, study reveals. Telegraph online 2/4/14; accessed 14/3/15.
• Carslile, C (2013) Depression and suicide: football's secret uncovered. BBC website 9/7/15; accessed 16/3/15.
• Liew, J (2015) Clarke Carlisle 'feels blessed' following recovery from suicide attempt and now knows 'importance of life'. The Telegraph; 28/3/15; accessed 30/3/15
• Lane, D (2013) Depression continues to dog NRL players. New Zealand Morning Herald online 25/8/13; accessed 17/3/15.
• Herlihy, C (2012) Fighters are high risk candidates for developing depression. Boxing Insider website 24/6/12; accessed 17/3/15.
• Hewitt, P; Flett, G (1990) Perfectionism and depression: A multidimensional analysis. Journal of Social Behaviour and Personality. 5 (5); 423-438.
• Flett, G; Hewitt, P (2005) The perils of perfectionism in sports and exercise. Current Directions in Psychological Science. 14 (1); 14-18.
• Aldhous, P (2009) Practice makes perfect: Are athletes prone to OCD. New Scientist (online), 19/5/1/09; accessed 7/4/15.
• Porter, A and Barnes, D (2013) Findings from a study of the mental physical and financial wellbeing of retired professional sportsmen. The Professional Players Federation.
• Warburton, D (2015) Olympic hero Gail Emms on depression: Having a baby saved my life. Mirror (online) 21/3/15; accessed 3/4/15.
• Scherrer, j, Svrakic, D, Freedland, K, Chrusciel, T, Balasubramanian, S, Bucholz, K, Lawler, E and Lustman, P. (2013) Prescription opioid analgesics increase the risk of depression. Journal of General Intrernal Medicine, 29 (3); 491-499.
• Pope, H; Katz, D (1994) Psychiatric and medical effects of anabolic-androgenic steroid use. Arch Gen Psychiatry. 15 (5); 375-382.
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• Clemitson, S (2014) Cycling's longstanding, predictable and troubling relationship with depression. The Guardian (online), 23/1/14; accessed 1/4/15.
• Guskiewicz, K, Marshall, S, Bailes, J, Mccrea, M. Harding H., Matthews, A, Mihalik, J and Cantu, R. (2007) Recurrent concussion and risk of depression in retired professional football players. Medicine and Science in Sport and Exercise. 39 (6), 903-909. 
• McRae, D (2008) Booze, sweat and tears - the drive that delivers Olympic glory. The Guardian (online), 30/9/08; accessed 2/2/15
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• Branscombe, N & Wann, D (1991) The positive social and self concept consequences of sports team identification. Journal of Sport and Social Issues, 15 (2), 115-127.

Personal identity: a short task

In a previous blog I wrote about the importance of having an identity that is not solely based around your successes as an athlete.  I want to take this opportunity to share a task that I asked young talented individual to complete as part of a workshop I ran on dual careers a few weeks ago.  This is a useful task for individuals of all ages to complete, and is a good starting point for career planning, a way of focusing and motivating individuals, or simply an exercise to boost confidence.

This is me
Explore your personal identity by filling an A3 sheet of paper with things that make up you and your personality.  Use words, phrases, sentences, pictures, or images cut from magazines and lay out the page in whatever way you feel appropriate.  Include some or all of the following:

• Successes that you have had outside of sport
• Characteristics that define your personality (e.g. three words that describe you)
• Long term goals – 1 for sport; 1 for education/career; 1 for life in general
• What I would like to be when I ‘grow up’.
• Hobbies
• Things you like (food, books, tv) – Pick one and explain why you like it
• Skills (maybe things that you’ve learned from sport that you can apply to life
• Things that make you happy/laugh
• Things that you like about your sport
• Why you do your sport
• Favourite subjects at school
• Your coping skills
• You top values*

This should be a positive document.  Use only positive words.  From this task you should see that there is more to you than just a person that goes to school, or a person that does sport.  You are multidimensional!

* Values-type exercises are among my favourite career planning tools.  Below is a list of some values.  Take some time working through the list and thinking about what each word means to you (each individual will interpret the values differently).  The theory is that those who are happiest in their careers have work and careers which meet their values.  Once you’ve made a list of the values that are most important to you, write them on a small piece of paper, and place it in your wallet.  Check it regularly and ensure that your values are being met on a daily basis.

Older individuals can take the above task a step further to help with career decisions.  Instead of just depicting the current you on a sheet of paper, you can depict your career so far as a journey or timeline, and explain how you’ve got from one stage to the next.  In a metaphorical sense, plotting your journey so far will help to see where the road is leading you.  Write down the key stages and words and talk through the plot with a friend or any willing listener.  This is a useful task when big decisions have to be made, as it takes the emphasis away from the pressure decision, and helps get you into your comfort zone.  We are all experts in our own lives, so that’s where we should focus our attentions.

I’ve included a further adaptation of the ‘This is Me’ task from a career perspective below.  This is something that I did for a recent job interview.  Essentially all of my work experience is in a sporting perspective, but writing it down like I did below helped me realise just how broad that experience is.  It’s ok to have life experiences that are just sports related, but recognising the skills that are transferable is key.  We’ll explore transferable skills in a future post.

Hopefully doing the above task will help you realise just how multi-dimensional you are and highlight areas that you can branch into.  Maybe it’ll inspire you to take up a new hobby, or generate an interest that you can explore on training camps when you have plenty of time on your hands.

The role of lifestyle support in the professional era

In a previous post we examined what Lifestyle and Personal Development support is.  In this post, we look at why such support is vital in the modern high performance sport environment, using rugby union as an example.

Lifestyle support is the youngest of the performance support services, and it’s only in the last ten years that lifestyle or personal development advisors have become regular staff members within the high performance sport environment.  In some ways, this is not surprising.  The need for such support has increased with increased professionalism in sport.  The role of the lifestyle or personal development advisor is often to manage or counteract the negative aspects of being a full-time athlete.  The role is often a hidden safety net which allows performance directors to continue on their one-track road to success at any cost.

Encouraging athletes to consider dual careers and to prepare for life after sport is often in direct conflict to the messages portrayed by those who manage performance (encouraging centralized training and full-time sport, and recommending reduced distractions from performance) or the very environment that increased professionalism brings with it (increased time demands as an athlete; increased money and subsequent reduced need to work). 

Counteracting the effects of increased professionalism

If we take Rugby Union – a sport which has shifted from an amateur sport where players were not paid to a big business sport where players have the potential to earn enough as a player to set themselves up for life, in the space of just over a decade – as an example, we quickly see why lifestyle and personal development planning has become so important.

Rugby has traditionally been associated with private schools and third level institutes where, in the armature era, most players had well-paying jobs and secure futures when they retired from the sport.  Quickly, and refreshingly, the sport has become the sport of the masses, both in terms of participants and spectators, but unfortunately, professionalization of the sport has meant that an increasing number of players forego their education, in favor of a sports career which one injury or a bad run of form could end in an instant.

Players are being talent spotted earlier and earlier, reducing the chances that they will have naturally completed their education by the time they reach senior level.  Of course academies insist that players stay in school, and many provide additional tutoring and support to enable players to do so, but the point is that these measures have to be put in place just to maintain equilibrium.

For many players, the lure of big money contracts in France can be too great to ignore, and while living and playing in another country can be a life-changing experience for many, money can’t be the only reason to move.  Players should be encouraged to consider all factors in the decision making process and those who decide that France is for them may need to be supported through the major life change.

The celebrity status associated with being a successful player, and the accessibility of players to the fans via social media can bring about a host of other issues.  Blanket bans of social media can prevent players making stupid mistakes, but do little to increase the player’s marketability or help them develop a unique image.

While it may sound like a bit of a contradiction, professional players tend to have a lot of time on their hands.  This can bring with it a range of potential problems, including boredom, addiction, depression and anti-social behavior. 

Managing lifestyles for performance purposes

Athletes are often busy people with a number of different factors to juggle.  Athletes need to be fresh and well rested to perform at their best, and a well managed lifestyle will help them to perform in their sport and to get the most from potential opportunities that arise.  Talk management, goal setting and decision making skills can help an athlete manage their lifestyle, while managing stress and priortising demands will also have far reaching benefits. 

Preparing for life after sport

We have spoken before about the importance of preparing for life after sport, and encouraging a player/athlete to prepare for life after sport is an important part of lifestyle and personal development support.  Few athletes/players get to choose when they end their careers, particularly in a sport like rugby where career-ending injuries and deselection are common reasons for retiring.  Athletes should be encouraged to plan for life after sport from the very beginning. 

Creating the well-balanced individual

Players and athletes can potentially become trapped in a life where they eat, sleep and breath their sport, with little balance or connection with the ‘real’ world.  True, many transferable skills, including teamwork and goal setting, can be learned in the sporting environment, but players who have nothing to think about other than turning up to training on time, who are surrounded by similarly-minded teammates on a regular basis, and whose only daily decision is chicken or salmon for lunch at the club canteen, can loose touch with reality and quickly forget how to fend for themselves.  They can also quickly become bored.  As lifestyle and personal development consultants, we therefore have a responsibility to expose the players to other experiences and opportunities.  Many sportspeople value the contribution of distractions in their lives.

Recent examples include Irish 800m runner Mark English who, not long after winning the 800m bronze medal at this summer’s European Athletics Championships, stated that he was looking forward to getting back into his Medical studies at UCD:

"I love having something to distract me from all the training during the winter," English said. "You can't just be an athlete with nothing going on in your life." - See more at: http://www.independent.ie/sport/other-sports/medical-career-offers-refreshing-perspective-for-clinical-english-30521181.html#sthash.Ait3NEZU.dpuf

"I love having something to distract me from all the training during the winter," English said. "You can't just be an athlete with nothing going on in your life." - See more at: http://www.independent.ie/sport/other-sports/medical-career-offers-refreshing-perspective-for-clinical-english-30521181.html#sthash.Ait3NEZU.dpuf

"I love having something to distract me form all the training during the winter," English said.  "You can't just be an athlete with nothing going on in your life." (Irish Independent 20/8/14)

Similarly, Jo Pavey, who at 40 won 10,000m gold at the same championships, stated that being a mother to two children helped improve her performance:

The mother of two ... thinks it is her self-satisfied approach to life and flexibility that is key to the form that has finally given her the first major title of her career. (Athletics Weekly 13/8/14)

Having distractions away from sport is particularly beneficial when dealing with injury, and as mentioned previously, having an identity which is not completely dependent on sporting success can help an athlete cope with retirement. 

Social responsibility

Sport has a responsibility to look after its players and athletes and to help create well-rounded individuals who can give back to the community.  Giving athletes the skills to deal with setbacks and to manage mini transitions can help prepare them for life beyond sport.  Athletes should be encouraged to make the most of every opportunity that comes their way.  They should never see competing in sport as a sacrifice or an excuse to put their lives on hold.  They should exit the sport a better person than they entered it.  Player welfare is an important factor, and with an ever increasing number of cases of depression, eating disorders and addiction being reported among high performance sportspeople, it’s clear that even more work needs to be done on that front.

Lifestyle, personal development and welfare support

There's more to high performance sport than training for an event, turning up, and competing.  Athletes, particularly in the professional era, have a lot to think about.  Eating healthily on a tight budget, keeping their finances in order, balancing a social life with an intense training programme, dealing with the media, keeping sponsors happy, handling the expectations of others, coping with long periods of time on the road, building functional relationships with coaches and teammates, keeping anti-doping whereabouts information up-t-date, and dealing with injury and other setbacks, are just some of the additional challenges faced by athletes.  Add to that the everyday demands of human life, work and educational commitments, personal relationships and financial concerns, and the busy life of the athlete, becomes the hectic life of the person.

With all these concerns and issues to balance, it's easy to see why an athlete might benefit from having a member of support staff to keep them on top of their 'life'.  But there is also something else that needs to be considered, and that's where the welfare, career or lifestyle support person really comes into their own.  A sporting career is like few other careers.  A lucky athletes will compete at their peak to somewhere in their early to mid thirties.  Many will finish much earlier, be it due to injury, burnout, lack of funding, or simply reaching their sporting goals.  Usually when individuals retire, they're done with work.  They've earned enough money to see them through their final years, and though a life without work can be difficult for anyone, of any age, to adjust to, the more relaxed pace of life is usually welcomed.  Retiring from a career in your early thirties is a whole different conundrum.  Goals may not have been achieved, few athletes have earned enough money to last the rest of their lives, and having lived on adrenaline and endorphines for many years previously, a massive void normally dominates the outlook of a retired sportsperson.  Retirement in the athlete has been likened to bereavement, and a particularly traumatic one in those who have not prepared for the retirement, or have not been able, for whatever reason, to retire on their terms.

The lifestyle adviser or welfare support person can help the athlete prepare for retirement in a number of ways.  Crucial to the transition is the development of other skills, and preparation for another job or career after sport.  A considerable volume of research supports the pursuit of dual careers from the early days, and though the value of dual careers is widely accepted, the reality is often very different.  Centralised training, increased professionalism, and increased social pressures on athletes makes the pursuit of education, training and employment very difficult for high performance athletes.  Furthermore, the increased money involved in sport often means that athletes don't need to work during the good years, meaning that they have less experience, and less earning potential after sport.  As professional increases, the role of lifestyle and welfare personnel becomes more important.  They are, to some extent, constantly fighting against the system.

Helping with transitions, dual careers and retirement is just part of what the lifestyle, career or welfare support person will help an athlete with.  Councelling and communication skills are important, and by helping an athlete work through their small issues, they are helping build the skills to manage and deal with issues and challenges in the future.  Development of goal setting, time management, conflict resolution and decision making skills will stand to an athlete in future sporting and non-sporting contexts, and though largely relevant to life outside of sport, some of these skills will actually help the athlete in their sporting performance.

This piece from the EIS website outlines how Performance Lifestyles helped Olympic champion rower Katherine Granger achieve sporting success. One of the greatest challenges of this whole area of support, however, is that not all strategies will help to improve performance.  Conflicting roles often exist, particularly if the lifestyle advisor or welfare officer is employed directly by the governing body or funding agency.  How do you support an potential Olympic medallist with depression would be best to spend time away from the support, when the sport as a whole, and ultimately your position, is dependent on medals won at the Olympics.  Obviously, the athlete's welfare is always top of your agenda, but measurement of your performance can be far from clear-cut.

While nutritionists are universally called nutritionists, and sports psychologists are known as sports psychologists across the board, different terms are often used to describe the people who provide the crucial lifestyle support to athletes.  UK Sport, and relevant home country sports institutes (EIS, SINI, SIS and SportWales), refer to the area as Performance Lifestyles, delivered by Performance Lifestyle advisors.  The Irish Institute of Sport run a Performance Transition Support Programme that is "designed to help [athletes] recover, refocus and re-energise" after an Olympic Games, and prepare for the next phase of their life. They refer to the area as Athlete Lifestyle.  TASS refer to the area as Education and Lifestyle Support; The Australian Institute of Sport deliver support through their Personal Excellence (PE) and Athlete Career and Education (ACE) programmes and High Performance Sport New Zealand runs an Athlete Life Programme delivered by Athlete Life Advisors. The England Cricket Board and the Professional Cricket Association run a comprehensive programme delivered by their Personal Development and Welfare Team, while the support professional rugby players receive through the RPA is delivered by Player Development Managers. Support personnel on some university scholarship programmes are simply called mentors.  The skills required by these professionals, the CPD opportunities available, and routes into this type of work will be covered in a future post.

Most professional athletes have access to lifestyle support through their national governing body or professional players association.  Athletes who are not yet at that level, and who would benefit from support, can contact us at Athlete Life Development to discuss and arrange one-to-one or small group support sessions.

Identity in sport

Recently, something happened which surprised me a lot.  I reached a point where I just couldn't talk about athletics anymore!  The watershed moment came on a recent altitude training trip to Ethiopia when I was staying at a training camp, surrounded by athletes, talking about athletics, all day long.

Don't get me wrong.  Sport is my life!  I run twice a day most days of the year, am in a bad mood when I haven't trained, have competed in the sport for more than 21 years and have no immediate plans of quitting, plan my social life around the race calendar, spend my holidays altitude training, studied sports science for 7 years, and have spent my entire working life supporting athletes and writing about sport.  I could not imagine my life without sport.  But at that moment in time, I just wanted to talk about something else!

I guess that even after all these years of being involved in sport, I've still managed to develop a personality independent of it.  True, sport has done a lot to make me the person I am, but I am not defined by it.  And that moment brought home to me just how important it is for athletes of all levels to have interests away from their sport, and to be able to switch off from repetition times, competitors' results, and target paces. Not only will it help with your performances as an athlete, but having interest outside of sport, and having an identity that is not completely built around sport, greatly eases the retirement transition.

I have often heard people say that you shouldn't study sport if you're an athlete; it'll be too much.  I can see where they're coming from, but there are a couple of flaws in their advice.   Who is going to make the best sports academics and practitioners, apart from the people who are genuinely interested in sport?  When advising athletes about career choices, I always encourage them to do something that they are interested in. Why study aeronautical engineering when you have no interest in either airplanes or engineering?  Yes, don't study sports science just because it has sport in the title - when you have no interest in science - but don't just avoid it because you already do sport.  There are many other ways to develop an identity that is not completely dependent on your sport and your performance as an athlete.

Let one thing lead to another

You may start out studying sport science, but this may lead to an interest in a particular area which takes you away from sport (e.g. biomechanics in ageing populations), and back again (e.g. how exercise can delay the ageing population).  Your interests are inspiring your career choices, but you have not pigeon-holed yourself because of what you see your identity to be.

Taking my own career as an example, I can explain this a little better.  I studied sports science because I was interested in sport and science.  This got me interested in research, and I did a PhD which looked at menstrual health in female athletes, something which I had a personal interest in.  Along the way I realised that I wanted to help athletes, and got a job supporting high performance athletes.  During this time I was surrounded, not only by high performance athletes, but by colleagues with a range of interests and hobbies.  I learned who to develop websites - when I set up a club website - and developed an interest in writing when writing athletics reports for a local newspaper.  I learned a range of skills on the job, that could be applied to a number of situations outside of sport.  Training at altitude in Kenya developed an interest in travel, and in African sociology and history.  I also got interested in photography, and started taking photos at races.  And I've always loved reading.  So the transition to writing a book which involved travel, taking lots of photos and running was an obvious one.  When doing that I learned about publishing, promotion, blogging and other social media, not to mention developing my stress management, self motivation and personal management skills.

The sport that I love has always been my guiding light, but I feel I have managed to develop a well rounded personality, with a range of interest (even if all these interests are related to sport).  I don't think I am defined by my results in athletics (probably just as well), or by anything else I have achieved along the way.  I am defined by how I behave, interact with others, and approach life.  All of these have been molded by my participation in sport, but would not change dramatically if I stopped running, and got a job away from sport tomorrow.

Surround yourself with the right people

There is no doubt but that being surrounded by the right people affects who we are, and how successful we become.  For some athletes that's being surrounded by other athletes that will motivate and push them. For others, being in a competitive environment 24/7 is just too much, and some successful athletes don't hang around with athletes at all.  Yes, you need people to understand you, but that doesn't always have to be other athletes.  Find the right mix of people for you.  Don't become stuck in a rut just because you and all your fiends have the some interests, drive and goals.  It's good if your friends have the similar values to you, but you don't have to have the same hobbies or interests as somebody else to get on with them.  In fact having a friend group with different interests, backgrounds and roles will not only help you in your sporting life, but will also help you moving forward from sport.

Don't let your results define your own self-worth

It's good to have stretching goals, to work hard towards those goals, and to celebrate in achieving those goals.  In fact there are few things more rewarding than finally realising a dream.  However, your self worth should't be defined by how fast you've ran, or what you achieved in sport.  I see myself as Elizabeth Egan, the person who takes on massive task, learns what she needed to along the way, overcomes a few setbacks along the way, and achieves what she sets out to do, rather than Elizabeth Egan who wrote a book.  The first is about character, is long-lasting and is independent of talent.  More importantly it consists of skills that can be transferred to any aspect of life.  The times we run, or medals we win are dependent on luck, other external factors, and talent, and will soon be forgotten about.  We can dine out for a lifetime on our personality and character, but even the Olympic golds will be forgotten about.

In summary
To have a long a successful sporting career, and a successful and rewarding life after sport, learn to have interests outside of sport. Surround yourself with a variety of well-rounded individuals, who may or may not participate in sport at a high level.  Other interests don't always have to have a negative impact on your focus or energy.  In fact, time away from thinking about training and performances usually have a positive impact.

The person comes first. Always

A  few days ago, I picked up a copy of Sport magazine from April 25^th  - nothing like being up to date!  As the week in which the latest Manchester United manager received his marching orders, Moyes understandably receives considerable focus, and the cover story remembers Formula 1 legend Ayrton Senna, 20 years on from his tragic death, but it is two more minor stories that are of particular interest to Athlete Life Development, and the work that we do.

This first, an article entitled ‘Life After Sport’, looks at the difficulties faced by athletes when they retire from sport.  One of our recent blogs looked at this issue, and this article gives further real-life examples of the challenges that sportspeople such as boxer Ricky Hatton, middle distance runner Kelly Holmes and footballer Mick Quinn faced when retiring from their chosen sport, and how they coped with this major life event.

A lot of the current career transition research in sport is centred around encouraging sports men and women to view themselves as people, and to centre their self-image around his or herself as a person rather than his or herself as a an athlete, something which dual careers and interests outside of sport can help with.

Of course, we’re all about the person rather than the athlete at Athlete Life Development, and it is from this viewpoint that I can’t help but look at the commentary of David Moyes’s time at United, and feel a certain sense of regret.  Of course Moyes knew the pressures and media focus that he would face when he left Everton for the greatest job in football management, but still, wouldn’t it be nice if the media and those who comment on social media, took the time to think of Moyes as a person with feelings, just like me or you.  Nobody will be more disappointed with United’s results than Moyes himself – and in typical catastrophe theory fashion, bad results led to increased pressure, trying too hard, and an unbreakable downward spiral -  but maybe it wasn’t just a case of the wrong man for the job.  Perhaps it was the wrong job for the man.

Speaking of people with emotions brings us nicely (almost seamlessly) to the second piece of interest to us in Sport - an advertising feature on mental health.  The piece, publicising the work of Time to Change, England’s biggest programme to challenge mental health stigma and discrimination, looks at the mental health issues that British boxing legend Herol ‘Bomber’ Graham faced following his retirement from sport.  This is a common theme across sportspeople after they retire, but sportspeople can face depression at any stage in their careers.  Injury, disappointing results, and financial concerns can be trigger events, but even positive events like achieving lifelong goals can cause the most hardened of competitors to experience this most common of diseases. 

We discussed depression in sport in a previous post, but, with one in four people experiencing a mental health problem each year, it is an important issue to bring back into the spotlight.  Last week, Spanish long jumper and former European record holder Yago Lamela was found dead at his parents’ home.  Though the cause of death has not been formally announced, his family have revealed that he had been suffered from periods of severe depression and anxiety attacks since late in his athletic career, and that there had been at least one previous suicide attempt.

What can coaches and support personnel do to help?  

Firstly, always think of each of your athletes as a person, not just as an athlete, and focus on supporting the person as much as supporting the athlete. 

Encourage the athlete to follow other pursuits and to have interests outside of sport.  Recognise times of stress and anxiety in their lives – exams, job interviews, increasing media attention – and adapt training accordingly.  Not every athlete will become an Olympic Champion, but coaching provides the opportunity to make a positive impact on each and every person that you coach.  Athletes look up to their coach, and as coaches we have the opportunity to positively influence their lives in so many ways.

Remember that results should never come before the welfare of the person.

This, Mental Health Awareness Week in the UK, and the Green Ribbon awareness month in Ireland, is a good time to increase our awareness of the causes and symptoms of depression, anxiety and other mental illness.  If you know someone that has mental health issues, there is some good advice on starting the conversation here.

Educate yourself on eating disorders, overtraining, and other welfare issues which may affect athletes that you coach.  You don’t need to be able to solve issues, but you may need to signpost athletes to help.

Maintain an open and understanding approach to your coaching.  Athletes may find it difficult talking to a parent about welfare issues that they are experiencing, and coaches and other support personnel may often fill a crucial listening role.

This report of an event held in Dublin last January, sums up the role of the coach nicely.