AASP Newsletter - September 2020

John Heil

John Heil, DA, CMPC-E, Fencing Sport Psychology; Psychological Health Roanoke

When facing an unknown, the search for a solution can begin with what is known about similar circumstances. Adversity is the common denominator of all trauma and catastrophe, including COVID. Lessons in coping with COVID can be drawn from what is already known about managing adversity in sport. This article focuses on the psychology of sport injury and sport critical incidents.

Like COVID, injury causes a pause in the everyday way of play. The injured athlete is still an athlete, but the way to train changes, from the dynamic whole-body action of the competitive sport environment to the carefully executed, simple mechanics of injury rehabilitation. But the underlying skillset remains the same: concentration, body awareness, pain tolerance, goal orientation and commitment to the rehab plan. COVID also requires a shift in thinking about training. Finding new ways to train and compete requires innovation and fresh thinking. 

Unlike injury, which is typically a solitary experience, COVID is an experience shared across the universe of sport. As the word “pandemic” implies, its impact is worldwide, with effects felt across all realms of sport, including team and individual, with impacts from the youth athlete, to the weekend warrior, to the elite athlete. The expression, “We are all in this together” is most certainly true, reflecting a shared need for resourcefulness and resilience. This gives rise to the first lesson:

Work as a team – to find new ways to train, to keep physically fit and competition-ready. With this expanded sense of team, there is a critical mass of thought, emotion, and energy devoted to problem solving. Let us all share what we learn and do. Many are. The range and diversity of approaches is both surprising and exciting. The downtime of injury provides an opportunity to train up the mental game. It is the same with COVID. As with injury, COVID is likely to generate feelings of loss (an emptiness that comes when the athlete role is interrupted) and a sense of threat (linked to an uncertain future). From loss may come sadness, apathy, and helplessness, which can lead to depression. With threat, there may be frustration and fearful negative thinking, which can evolve into anxiety. The second lesson is the same as the first:

Work as a team – to help keep each other psychologically healthy, to stay in touch personally. Teammates know one another well and know each other in adversity. When someone is off their game emotionally, reach out and show your support. Early recognition and effort to remedy loss and threat prevent them from becoming anxious and depressed. Do not be afraid to speak out to a friend in need of help. Be willing to listen to the friend that offers you help.
Most injuries are recoverable, and as a society we will recover from COVID. How quickly and how completely this happens depends on what we all do. In injury, it is essential to stick to the rehab protocol, whether it is inconvenient or uncomfortable. With COVID, this means sticking to the protocol. No need to repeat that here, as everyone knows it. But for some reason, not everyone does it. Whether convenient or comfortable, we all need to do it. The third lesson is now a familiar one:

Work as a team – to help push through the pandemic itself. Set a good example and encourage others to follow. We wear the mask as much for each other as we do for ourselves. Beating COVID will take a team effort.

Sport critical incidents include catastrophic injuries and other trauma experienced within the world of sport. For sport, COVID is a critical incident. Critical incidents also cause a pause, in an evocative and soul-searching way, as a team, community, or society takes a step back and examines the meaning of sport in the broader context of life. Critical incidents change people. One does not come out the other side of such an experience the same as one went in. But despite feelings of sadness and loss, some become better and wiser. It is said that what does not kill you makes you stronger. The truth is sometimes people do become stronger, and sometimes they remain broken. What is it that enables an athlete or anyone to come through adversity? The potential for growth after stress is being better understood through ongoing research, including some done with sport. The theory holds that there is an innate drive to modify one’s worldview positively following trauma. This involves finding the affirmative opportunity that life provides even while accepting and living with feelings of loss. While this is ultimately a personal challenge, the help of others can be the tipping point between post-traumatic growth and post-traumatic stress. 

In the wake of the Virginia Tech campus shootings, there are two compelling observations noted by the VT Sports Medicine team as part of a Lessons Learned study. The first year after the shootings was a landmark year in VT sports with teams exceeding expectations. This is attributed to a greater sense of community, the feeling of a shared experience, and a revaluing of sport with a greater level of focus and commitment. This reflects a shared post-traumatic growth. 

The second observation was of the significant impact that sport played in the healing process for the entire college community. This speaks to the role for sport in moving society through COVID and other trauma to a better tomorrow. As an influential social institution with a highly visible world-wide reach, sport has the potential to exert a profound influence on communities and on society, especially in a time of crisis. The world is watching. Sport can help lead the way. Let us work as a team for a better tomorrow.

Resources

The COVID-19 Pandemic: Tips for Athletes, Coaches, Parents, and the Sport Community. From the Association for Applied Sport Psychology 

Implementing Lessons Learned from the Virginia Tech Shootings: Sports Medicine Team Perspectives (PowerPoint). Text available from author.

Joseph, S., & Linley, P. A. (2005). Positive adjustment to threatening events: An organismic valuing theory of growth through adversity. Review of General Psychology, 9(3), 262-280.

Republished with permission of USA Fencing and American Fencing Magazine