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Over the last couple of years, mental health awareness in football has increased, thus offering football players the chance to speak out and ask for help if they are suffering. In a game that portrays being the 'big person', needing to impress and avoiding signs of fault or weakness seemed to be the priority for many players in the past.Consequently, many men in sports are reluctant to talk to a therapist, because they are afraid of looking weak (Bloom, 2021). In the UK, players can access counselling support through the Professional Football Association's (PFA) Wellbeing Department, or charities such as Sporting Chance (Founder, Tony Adams MBE) and Heads Together. The Football Association and Heads Together is supported by the Duke of Cambridge, which is undoubtedly raising awareness throughout the football industry. This paper explores the currently available support and what fundamentally needs to be offered to players by football clubs. The author, who has experienced deselection from a top-level football club, proposes that it should be mandatory for football clubs to have in-house counsellors. They could emotionally support the players and work with the club's sports psychologist or counsellor/psychotherapist to help with the players' transitions. | CURRENT ROLE OF COUN S ELLING/ PSYCHOTHER APY IN FOOTBALLDue to the early stages of research relating to counselling within football clubs, there is no current literature showing that football clubs are employing counsellors to operate within the club as
Over the last couple of years, mental health awareness in football has increased, thus offering football players the chance to speak out and ask for help if they are suffering. In a game that portrays being the 'big person', needing to impress and avoiding signs of fault or weakness seemed to be the priority for many players in the past.Consequently, many men in sports are reluctant to talk to a therapist, because they are afraid of looking weak (Bloom, 2021). In the UK, players can access counselling support through the Professional Football Association's (PFA) Wellbeing Department, or charities such as Sporting Chance (Founder, Tony Adams MBE) and Heads Together. The Football Association and Heads Together is supported by the Duke of Cambridge, which is undoubtedly raising awareness throughout the football industry. This paper explores the currently available support and what fundamentally needs to be offered to players by football clubs. The author, who has experienced deselection from a top-level football club, proposes that it should be mandatory for football clubs to have in-house counsellors. They could emotionally support the players and work with the club's sports psychologist or counsellor/psychotherapist to help with the players' transitions. | CURRENT ROLE OF COUN S ELLING/ PSYCHOTHER APY IN FOOTBALLDue to the early stages of research relating to counselling within football clubs, there is no current literature showing that football clubs are employing counsellors to operate within the club as
Mistakes made by players during a game are common in football, and when handled well they provide opportunities to learn and develop skills. However, when there is excessive self-criticism associated with the error, leading to dysfunctional cognitions about the self, there is the potential for a reduction in performance and wellbeing. Self-criticism can serve a number of functions but when it is excessive and undermines a player’s sense of adequacy and self-esteem it can lead to anxiety and depression. The current article explores the use of self-compassion techniques as methods for reducing the potential negative impacts of self-criticism. This paper is a narrative review of the literature, examining the theory and evidence base associated with the use of self-compassion approaches in sport, particularly football. The article presents protocols used with professional footballers to promote performance and wellbeing. Key learning aims (1) Elite athletes are prone to a range of mistakes and stressors, sport and non-sport related, that they are required to deal with in order to maintain their performance and wellbeing. (2) Self-compassion strategies are useful techniques for elite athletes to both help maintain wellbeing and prevent the occurrence of ‘mental health symptoms’. (3) Evidence suggests that self-compassion strategies are helpful to footballers, and beneficial protocols have been used in studies with professional footballers.
Sport psychology has become increasingly recognized and accepted within professional sports, including soccer. To date, there is a lack of research that examines the provision of sport psychology within elite soccer, particularly from the experience of applied practitioners working within the field. The current study adopted a qualitative, inductive approach, to examine the experiences of practitioners responsible for sport psychology delivery within elite soccer academies in England. Seven participants (four females; three males), working within academies in the English Premier League, took part in semi-structured interviews about their experience of delivering sport psychology services within elite soccer academies. Results demonstrated that the provision of sport psychology is continually evolving, yet there are a number of factors that appear to inhibit the full integration of the discipline into academy soccer. Six key themes were identified: The breadth of sport psychology provision; what is sport psychology; the stigma surrounding sport psychology services; psychological literacy; the elite youth soccer environment; and the delivery of sport psychology under the Elite Player Performance Plan. Participants identified a lack of psychological literacy among coaches and academy staff, as well as a low level of guidance regarding the provision of psychology within the England Football Association’s guiding document—the Elite Player Performance Plan—leading to considerable variation in the nature of the sport psychology provision. Future research would do well to also sample from a range of staff working within English soccer academies, in order to assess their perception of the level of provision and understanding of psychology.
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