Helping pupils deal with significant personal disappointments in their sport

Article written by:  Mark Burley, Director of Sport, Canford School, Feb 2018

Within the sporting experience of adolescents there are certain events that occur which might well lead to additional stress and emotional upheaval. Teachers and coaches should be aware of occurrences such as significant injuries, de-selection and exits from teams that can, without appropriate support, potentially, lead to increased mental health concerns.

A player not gaining selection for regional, national or professional academy squads can be, in their eyes, seen as a very public failure. This can ultimately affect not just upon the very identity of the individual but also their academic performance too. If the adolescent has framed their own personal identity around their sporting progress then being dropped from a high profile squad can detrimentally affect their own sense of self-worth. Indeed, it has been found that deselected youth athletes are ‘at risk’ of developing clinical levels of psychological distress. (Blakelock, D.J. et al, 2016)

Such feelings may be mirrored when adolescents with a strong sporting profile suffer a significant injury that prevents them from training and playing with their team. These pupils can feel they are not part of the squad at this time and are thus detached from the shared emotions experienced by their teammates during practice sessions and matches. If the injury is particularly serious, requiring several months of rest and rehabilitation the mental health of the adolescent can be significantly affected through feelings of loneliness and isolation.

Can such individuals be protected?

Teachers and coaches can play a significant role in creating a positive environment for those pupils who may suffer from one of the negative experiences highlighted above. Being an “interested role model” (Hill, A et al, 2016) is a position we can all occupy and by taking a genuine interest in how the pupils feel about their de-selection or injury we can definitely help them. This is especially important for those pupils within the boarding environment who do not receive the regular parental contact that traditionally would provide emotional reassurance and support.

Interventions & Support

Team coaches, subject teachers. House and form staff all have a key role to play when their pupils are experiencing emotional and psychological difficulties due to the impact of de-selection or significant injury. Indeed, these staff can combine with parents to provide “Communal coping” where the combination of a supportive social network to formulate strategies in order to cope with a key stressor has proven to be an effective intervention (Lyons et al., 1998, in Neely, K. C., et al, 2017).

Familiarity with the personality traits of these adolescents is also an effective way of helping them manage disappointments in sport. By intervening in advance if a negative mind-set and / or fear of failure emerges has also proven to be effective in helping deal with mental health issues (Hill, A et al, 2016). Promoting a more positive, growth mind-set approach when failure, injury or de-selection occurs is as an opportunity for learning and future development. If the adolescent struggles to make these changes then interventions from a specialist, such as a sports psychologist, might well prove to be necessary.

On a practical level, team coaches should do anything they can to aid the adolescent in dealing with their disappointment. If it is de-selection / exit from an academy or national squad, reinforcement of their value and importance to their school team and peers can definitely help (Neely, K. C., et al, 2017). If the pupil(s) is not currently in a leadership role allocating some kind of responsibility could very much aid their focus and help them prove to the coaches who dropped them that they can bounce back. Similarly, jointly identifying new goals and targets can also support the pupil in overcoming such disappointment. 

For those individuals with a long term injury creating some involvement within the team environment is vital. It is very easy for the injured pupil to feel isolated so the coach should do their utmost to keep the player involved with their peers. Fulfilling a managerial role, if able, so that equipment, kit, water bottles, etc., are ready for use is one way. Using the pupil to help with match analysis or even videoing games is a very effective way of keeping the pupil involved as well as continuing to aid their learning and development, especially if they can present statistics and evaluate the performance of the team.

In our teaching roles we also need to be far more empathetic to the emotional and psychological mood such pupils might be in. It is not as straightforward as assuming they have lots of time available due to the injury or non-involvement in representative and academy training sessions. In fact, such an approach displays a lack of emotional intelligence, failing to appreciate that not training and competing at such times is a reinforcement of their exclusion. The injured player may well be working extremely hard on rehabilitation and strengthening programmes so may well be as busy as their non-injured peers are.

For those unable to work on their rehab due to the seriousness of their injury, the “dead” times of games sessions can be very lonely as their peers are involved in sport. Although such time is available for studying, it is a little naïve to think the pupil will be in a very positive mind-set to head off to the library on his or her own for academic purpose. The isolation and perceived lack of identity can be sadly enhanced at such times so sympathy and understanding are key emotional skills teaching staff need to display. Encouragement to attend departments to study alongside teaching staff in order to get work completed might well prove to be a welcome distraction during these time slots.

The “old-school” approach of just expecting pupils to get on with it when dealing with a major disappointment is outdated and inappropriate. When adolescents see their own identity heavily linked to their sporting success it is essential we provide them with the necessary sympathy and support when such success is negatively impacted upon. Unfortunately, a failure to do so may well exacerbate potential mental health anxieties which can detrimentally affect the pupil in their wider life at school.

References:

Blakelock, D. J., Chen, M. A., & Prescott, T. (2016). Psychological distress in elite adolescent soccer players following deselection. Journal of Clinical Sport Psychology, 10, 59-77. http://dx.doi.org/10.1123/jcsp.2015-0010

Hill, A., MacNamara, A., Collins, D. and Rodgers, S. (2016) Examining the Role of Mental Health and Clinical Issues with Talent Development, Frontiers in Psychology, Vol 6, Article 2042, Jan, pp.1-11

Neely, K. C., McHugh, T-L. F., Dunn, J. G. H., & Holt, N. L. (2017). Athletes and parents coping with deselection in competitive youth sport: A communal coping perspective. Psychology of Sport and Exercise, 30, 1-9. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.psychsport.2017.01.004