KICKING A GOAL FOR MENTAL HEALTH
FORMER AFL star Angelo Lekkas has called on every grassroots footy club to provide meditation sessions for junior players to combat stress and anxiety.
The former Hawthorn midfielder believes teens are under so much pressure in the digital age they need more help than ever to keep their mental health in check.
To set their minds at ease, Lekkas said clubs should treat meditation like they do goal kicking or handball practice and add it to every training session.
“This is something that is probably lacking at junior clubs around Victoria as a lot of the coaches tend to be from that old generation,’’ he said.
“It’s hugely important to your mindset day-to-day, and kids today have so many distractions with social media.
“A lot of them don’t have the opportunity to just stop at some point during the day and be sensitive in their thoughts, which is really important because that is where creativity comes in.
“Playing sport there is so much emphasis on the outcome … this is a way to detach from that and I’m surprised it’s not emphasised and enforced in junior clubs to be honest.’’
Lekkas, who played 180 matches for the Hawks, said he had seen the benefits of meditation in about nine years of coaching teenagers since hanging up his boots.
“When I was playing, meditation was such a vital part for me, without it I think it would have been hard to deal with the pressure,” he said.
Lekkas said teenagers at his Footy Specialist Coaching Academy reduced stress and negativity by meditating.
“A lot of them had never done it before, so for them it was a little bit strange to be sitting in the middle of an oval with their eyes closed,” he said. “But the impact was quite significant, and I’ve had only positive feedback.”