E-Paper
Slam dunk: Sport psychologists the MVPs in current Covid climate
The uncertainty of the current global sporting climate has led us to understand and appreciate sports and the unity that sports can bring even among various boundaries more than ever
India is in the midst of a sports crisis with the Indian Premier League (IPL) being severely criticised for being played as the second Covid wave devastates the country.
2020 and 2021 have been some of the most challenging years in modern human society. With the entire world still in the throes of a pandemic, sports were often asked to take a backburner to the more important and basic functional elements of each country’s society.
Even more unique was the fact that the pandemic first started in a year where the Summer Olympics were planned as the marquee event of the sporting community.
In fact, there have only been three times in history where the Olympics have been cancelled or postponed, and none of these have occurred since World War II.
The uncertainty of the current global sporting climate has led us to understand and appreciate sports and the unity that sports can bring even among various boundaries more than ever.
Highly competitive athletes are always able to train with an end-goal and performance in mind, depending on their sport. For example, a sprinter may be training with an eye on the Summer Olympics or World Championships, a football player may train for the UEFA Champions League or the World Cup, a basketball player preparing for the NBA season, NBA Finals or the Olympics.
Due to the pandemic, however, this was the first time for many modern athletes that their preparations were interrupted due to uncertainty over whether their sports would even continue.
Due to this uncertainty, the role of sport psychologists has been magnified more than at any point ever before. The major part of a sport psychologist’s role has involved teaching athletes to adapt to the “new normal” in a society that is overrun by the pandemic. Changing athletes’ perspective and teaching them strategies to be more resilient and adaptable is a critical part of the psychologist job description throughout the last 18 months.
Since athlete performance is heavily influenced by mindset, a psychologist may seek to have the athlete view uncertain circumstances as an opportunity for growth to learn to be more resilient.
In sports performance, the mental approach, lifestyle and stability of an individual is crucial to their success. Harnessing all these factors to work together, even in a pandemic, requires a great support network. For an individual athlete playing a sport, the range of emotional trauma experienced from having their entire livelihood taken away from them is not too dissimilar to the emotions experienced by the vast majority of society.
In this time, we can appreciate the stability and unity that sports contribute towards providing our modern society. As every individual’s life has been heavily impacted, it is crucial to recognise the parallels between those playing sport and contributing to the entertainment and this sense of stability and unity in our society. There can be an argument made that many athletes have had their careers cut short and taken away from them overnight, due to the very finite lifespan an athlete faces. It is important to recognise a universal truth regardless of one’s profession, we are all susceptible and vulnerable to the full spectrum of human emotion and that nobody can truly encounter the challenges of life without a well-built support system around them.
Work pressure and non-disclosure agreements have cut short my contribution to this space. This is my final piece... for now. However, basketball fans and players, keep your eyes on the NBA, it is one of the sporting lights in our dark Covid world of today.
