Heads up for players who don’t give toss about mental health
Digital health. It’s the latest fad to hit football – and it’s coming to a club near you.
Anyone who likes their training to be more about shooting practice, shuttles and squat thrusts before hitting the showers, look away now.
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But one Premiership club has introduced yoga to their training regime. It involves a form of meditation designed to let go of previous results and focus on the here and now.
Thankfully, there isn’t a leotard in sight – but hell mend any boys who don’t embrace their inner locust and treat the hour- long sessions seriously.
It’s a move designed to alleviate anxiety, to ensure players are mindful of tasks in hand and understand mental imagery.
Players are wired up during the exercise and the information is fed into a computer that provides data on a whole variety of outputs.
Mental resilience is the end game – an ability to block out negative thoughts.
It’s a reason why players are encouraged not to be trawling through Twitter in dressing rooms before games and fielding the abuse that is part and parcel of social media.
Using psychology is nothing new in sport.
America has led the way and a company called Headspace, which created an app-based programme designed to get players to deliver an optimum performance, has been working with Arsenal.
Fair enough, anything to get an extra edge. But shrinks have sometimes been given short shrift in dressing rooms.
Just ask the St Mirren players who had an Uri Geller impersonator as part of their coaching staff during Danny Lennon’s time as boss of the Buddies.
One man’s psychologist is another man’s weirdo – some think it’s new-age gobbledygook dressed up as progressiveness for our game.
The idea with Headspace is that players use the app at home. They are being encouraged to take their mental health welfare as seriously as their physical wellbeing. And why not.
Footballers are under increasing pressures both financially and due to a host of other distractions.
Encouraging people to talk about their inner-feelings can only be a good thing and getting them to express how they feel about certain situations can have a sporting benefit.
Sometimes failure to perform can be linked to confidence so it’s little wonder clubs will try anything.
Back in the day there was a team-mate who used to always go for a few pints on a Friday night before games.
If he was underperforming, he could use being out on the lash as an excuse.
Players can have fragile psyches and will grasp anything as a crutch to use if they aren’t producing the goods. Alcohol was only one of many. There’s no doubt Headspace could help modern players but not my Friday night bar buddy – he was beyond help and was better known as Headcase.
Players can have fragile psyches and will grasp anything to use as a crutch