How sport can help the nation heal in uncertain times

When we first launched our ground-breaking Mental Fitness Charter at the start of this year, I never imagined that just a few months later, we would be in a situation where the resilience of the nation - and indeed the world - was being tested in a way never seen before in modern times.

At a time when sport may not seem important in the grand scheme of things, I believe it can play an essential role in keeping our mental and physical fitness on track.

In fact, there has probably never been a more important time to reflect on how the benefits of sport can still shine through in a challenging situation such as this. Rugby League has a rich track record of providing much needed support in this area which we intend to champion.

The role of sport

Sport has the power to cross borders, transcend languages and unite communities. The coming and going of the sporting seasons provides a reassuring structure and familiarity that fans have come to expect and rely on over the years. Supporting or playing for a team creates a feeling of belonging and identity that has often been a part of our lives since childhood.

At a grass roots level, for the thousands of coaches, the volunteers who help make the coffees at events and of course the fans and players themselves, sport provides a much-needed release, a sense of community and companionship for both adults and children alike.

So with the unprecedented suspension of all sporting events, along with the sudden inability to take part in many of our usual physical activities, this loss of structure and predictability can cause heightened feelings of uncertainty and stress, which in themselves are a challenge to people’s mental health.

Sport England has recently highlighted the importance of staying active during this time and has outlined its ongoing commitment to keeping the nation moving through its National Lottery-funded ‘Join the Movement’ campaign.

Elsewhere, fitness expert Joe Wicks has taken on the role of ‘The Nation’s P.E. Teacher’, encouraging kids to take part in 30 minutes of keep fit exercise, streamed live every weekday to nearly a million viewers on his YouTube channel.

It is encouraging to see the collective efforts of the sporting community pulling together to help us get through this crisis.

How the RLWC2021 is working to improve mental fitness

We recently announced a partnership with the men's health charity Movember, to help us deliver our mental fitness initiative.

Through our five-point Mental Fitness Charter – the first of its kind for a global sporting event - we set out to highlight the importance of taking care of both mental and physical health.

We have committed that by the final game of our three tournaments, we will have trained every player, team official, match official, teammate and volunteer to look after their own mental fitness and that of those around them.

We will also be delivering mental fitness workshops to 8,000 young rugby league players and their parents, along with supporting tournament players to take their experiences home and develop mental fitness awareness within their own communities.

At a grass roots level, we’ll be training coaches to continue delivering mental fitness workshops and leave a sustainable tournament legacy. 

We had already planned to deliver a mental fitness campaign that reaches millions of people worldwide. However, it is increasingly clear that we need to adapt our strategy to provide further support during these extraordinary circumstances.

Over the coming weeks and months, we will use the RLWC2021 platform as a way to promote healthy lifestyles, amplifying the great work taking place across the sport of rugby league and beyond. We are also supporting the RFL’s #SkillToPlay initiative, an online toolkit of exciting skills and drills.

Uniting a virtual community

In the absence of the physical games, there are still different ways to create the feeling of solidarity that sport provides.

We are looking at ways to support our community and help reduce feelings of isolation, such as inviting fans to share their passions and experiences through our social channels.

We are also planning a series of initiatives designed to help older communities. We are currently developing a free dementia activity toolkit, which can be shared with care homes and other organisations across our host towns and cities. This will provide a range of methods to promote conversations, memories and mental stimulation such as quizzes, games, reminiscence prompts, links to historic games, content for people without a connection with the sport and social history. In parallel we have an aspiration to deliver a programme of monthly dementia cafes in RLWC2021 host areas that have a strong rugby league heritage.

Being thoughtful and resilient

We are very mindful that at this moment in time there are hugely more important things for people to focus on than our tournament.

As we continue to plan for the challenging months ahead, one thing has never been clearer; amidst a backdrop of uncertainty, our commitment to building resilience and helping people to cope with life’s setbacks has never been more vital.