Prepare for failure

On Thursday I attended a talk titled 'In Conversation: Sport and Mental Health' at the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge. The event was organised as part of the Paris 1924: Sport, Art and the Body exhibition.

It was a very chilled, yet incredibly informative evening. On the panel were Co-Curator - Chris Young, Professor Gordon Harold, Olympic rower - Cath Bishop and Health Science Historian Vanessa Heggie. Chris chaired the conversation, asking very thought-provoking questions of the panel.

A couple of things really stood out for me. The first thing relates to depression - depression rates within elite sport are 1 in 3; it's also the biggest cause of 'time-lost illness' within the work place.

So, why are people who are paid to do the sport they love, the most depressed? You would think they are living the dream - training, travelling the world and competing, nothing to be sad, down or depressed about there, right? Wrong...

Professor Gordon started off by talking about his first ever run when he was 12 years old, the freedom he enjoyed from being able to get out running was very clear from the huge smile on his face as he reminisced about his early days of training and competing. One of his claims to fame is that he is responsible for the IAAF and other governing bodies setting the minimum age for running marathons at 18 - this is because at 13 years old he ran the Dublin City marathon. It was this passion, enthusiasm and desire to run that triggered some interesting conversations for this young school boy.

When his History teacher asked him what his plan was, he replied, I want to train hard, win the Olympics in Seoul in 1988 then spend the rest of my life traveling the world talking about my success. His teacher challenged him on his 'Plan B', which of course he didn't have. The following week his teacher took him to an Irish International rugby match where he was introduced to two players who had recently suffered significant injuries which had shortened their careers. This was a real eye opener for the brave 13 year old who had no notion of what failure was, and how an injury could stop his career quicker than he could lace up his track spikes.

These injuries the players had suffered I'm sure would have led them to some dark places mentally and, despite being 6 ft 5 ins tall and built like mountains, a whole range of emotions would have come to the surface, ultimately leading to depression of some kind. Needless to say, Gordon developed a Plan B.

Failure

Failure within sport (and life) is inevitable. I've said many many times before that you will lose more races than you will ever win. It's what you do with these losses that makes the difference to your success.

One of the topics that was covered in the talk I attended was metrics - would there be less failure and, ultimately, less mental ill-health if we operated in a metric free world? Imagine a life where we didn't compare to others' race times, scores or distances covered. Imagine only thinking about what you do, your performance and the time you run, or the goal you score.

Would this lead to a healthier sporting community? Possibly.

This is where Parkrun has come in and created an event that isn't about winning, it's about inclusion. A free, 5km event where you can run, walk, push a buggy or even get dragged around by your dog. There is even a Junior Parkrun on a Sunday which is run over 2km. There are no prizes for winning a Parkrun, just your own time or position to compare to and improve on.

It was disappointing to hear that numerous governing bodies from a variety of different sports provide very little in the way of early intervention for the impact that 'failure' can have; the effect of not reaching one's target, which could lead to depression, other complex support needs and, ultimately, in someone taking their own life. It was very clear that a lot more needs to be done to raise awareness and I hope things like writing these blogs goes a little way to provoking thoughts for those who read this.

All that glitters isn't gold.

This was a phrase that Cath used, and it really got my grey matter going. In a purpose-led world, we chase the medals, a win, a title and so on.

However, what does it bring? What are you left with?

Chasing an Olympic medal can and probably will lead you to places you never thought you'd find yourself in, and this is why we need to prepare to fail. If we can manage the variables that will impact our performance, we will be in a much better and healthier place mentally. This isn't just around thinking about the negatives that could impact us, such as injury, not being selected, lack of funding etc. It's also about being prepared for the positives, what happens when you win the medal, what does that 'success' bring by way of press, fame, scrutiny. All of these will impact you mentally, good or bad, so preparation is key.

I believe in such a high risk world we have to embrace fear, the fear of losing, the fear of winning and everything in between.

Talking is going to be key to the success of our athletes and how they weather the storm mentally. We have to hope our governing bodies get to grips with this challenge and support our athletes.

In 2023 6,069 lives were lost to suicide, and over three quarters of these were men. Mental ill-health touches everyone yet, for some reason, men feel more isolated in their battles. Less than a month ago we lost another male athlete to suicide; one person too many.

Please talk and share. What seems like too much today, will probably feel a lot less tomorrow and, in a week or so, will likely feel even less still. Talking will truly make the difference.

Thank you for reading and if I can help with any of the above please get in touch.

Diesel.