Chapter 5: Handle mental Health

Meet Andreas

Some people asked us if we could share a small excerpt of our book "All you need to know about talent development in sport". Below you will find just that. A sample of pieces from chapter 5 - Handle mental health. In each chapter, you will meet an interesting person. In Chapter 5 that person is Andreas Küttel, world champion ski jumper, skilled researcher and a good friend.

Chapter 5

Handle mental health

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Top athletes master the ability to have high ambitions, bite the bullet and do the impossible. Young talents on their way to the top sometimes do it even more. This requires athletes’ networks to focus on their well-being, wellness and mental health.

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Mental health is on everyone’s lips, and for good reason. Sport is about more than medals. Very few talented young swimmers, sailors, runners, badminton players and rowers end up on the podium at the Olympics or world championships. Only very few young boys and girls who chase dreams and balls around the field end up as professional football players. That’s why you should strive for more with your deed in sport than creating that one world champion. We described in chapter 1 that the purpose of youth sport should rightly be to develop motivated participants, masters of life and razor-sharp medal winners. Motivated and mentally healthy athletes simply win more medals, especially in the long run.

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In our quest to understand mental health in elite sports, we reached out to one of the researchers who knows the most about mental health in elite sports, Andreas Küttel. Andreas is currently a researcher at the University of Southern Denmark, but he has a long and impressive career as a professional ski jumper for Switzerland. Andreas has participated in three Olympic Games, has won several World Cups and in 2009 became world champion in the large hill event. He knows the nature of the sport. Ski jumping is a sport where you have to push yourself to the limit every day, and preferably a little beyond. Andreas has felt the anxiety on his own body. He knows how to ask himself if he really dares to do the next jump. At the same time, for many years he was the youngest athlete on the Swiss national team. He had to fight extra hard for his place. He could learn from the older athletes, but he also had to prove himself every day in an environment where the others were bigger, stronger and had had more years to build up their courage.

It is Friday, a cold and white winter day when we catch Andreas at his house in a small town in the countryside. He has built a garden shed for his exercise equipment. He has just completed a hard cycling workout on his hometrainer and answers the Zoom call with red cheeks and a smile on his face. We get the idea that you can take the man out of the sport, but you cannot take the sport out of the man.

Andreas starts by talking enthusiastically about both his good experiences in the sport and periods of adversity and pressure. We feel that we hit the nail on the head when we contacted him to learn more about mental health in elite sports. Andreas is not just a good researcher. He has also experienced first-hand both when sport creates good mental health and when it challenges it.

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Sport is good for mental health. The exercise, the community, the experience of contributing to a team, and the experience of becoming good at something. These are all factors that benefit mental health. We know this from research. This is also where Andreas Küttel starts his story. He particularly remembers when he was about 20 years old and got a young Swiss coach. The coach was interested in Andreas, not just as an athlete, but as a person. He asked questions. The coach was young and curious himself, and Andreas saw that the whole team together was discovering the recipe for world-class performance. It was exciting. Andreas enthusiastically leans forward as he emphasises how much motivation and well-being he experienced during that period.

Does this mean that athletes are immune to problems? Far from it. In fact, we would venture to say that there is reason to be vigilant. Why?

Ambitious athletes are often dedicated, perfectionist and self-critical. They have the ability to suck it up and keep fighting, even when they do not feel great. It is not always all good. At the same time, sport is often a harsh arena with focus on short-term goals and internal competition. Coaches and athletes push the boundaries. It is exciting and perhaps necessary, but not always without problems. Add to this the fact that athletes’ everyday lives are characterised by tight schedules, time pressure, few holidays and training every day of the week. And if we look further, we see a so-called performance society, where young people experience being measured and weighed in many arenas.

All in all, you might be able to see that the stage is set for trouble. But what is the real story? Mental health is a relatively new research topic in sport and there is a lot we do not yet know. Nevertheless, we can highlight a number of key findings from research and practice.

We ask Andreas what is really important to know about mental health in sport. He is passionate about the well-being of athletes. He has a lot on his mind and is an avid talker. He tells us that

·?????? Most athletes are doing well

·?????? Great athletes are not immune to mental health issues

·?????? Mental health and performance are linked, but…

·?????? Sport environments can support AND threaten mental health

These points and more about athlete mental health are elaborated in the chapter. Towards the end of the chapter, with the help of Andreas, we provide recommendations these include:

As a coach, you should:

·?????? Show interest in the athletes, not just as athletes, but as people. Ask about their lives and experiences, both in and out of sport.

·?????? Understand the characteristics of good sporting environments that support young people’s well-being. You are already doing that, because this book is a great place to start.

·?????? Make sure there is time to recharge. Athletes also need breaks, vacations and socialising. Help athletes understand what actually works for them.

As a manager, you should:

·?????? In collaboration with experts, develop a ‘mental health course’ that is mandatory for coaches. As a minimum, it should include knowledge about healthy environments, symptoms of mental health problems, mental first aid and procedures for referring athletes who are unwell.

·?????? Keep an eye out. In collaboration with experts, develop a strategy to continuously monitor your athletes’ well-being in order to detect athletes in ‘yellow’ at an early stage. This could be through an annual screening with a questionnaire.

·?????? Ensure clear procedures for how you will deal with athletes in distress, including arrangements with clinical psychologists or other specialists. Such procedures could rightly be developed high up in the system.

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Hungry for more?

This was an excerpt of a chapter in All you need to know about talent development in sport.

Each chapter focuses on an important topic in talent development and contains definitions of key terms, an overview of current knowledge, and practical recommendations.? And you get to meet interesting people like Andreas. All in a readable package.

Get the book in your local Amazon bookstore.

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