{"id":296851,"date":"2023-12-02T00:25:52","date_gmt":"2023-12-02T00:25:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/?p=296851"},"modified":"2023-12-02T00:25:52","modified_gmt":"2023-12-02T00:25:52","slug":"sports-mental-torture-chamber-how-pressure-takes-a-toll-on-athletes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/rugby-union\/sports-mental-torture-chamber-how-pressure-takes-a-toll-on-athletes\/","title":{"rendered":"Sport&apos;s mental torture chamber: How pressure takes a toll on athletes"},"content":{"rendered":"<h1> Sport&#8217;s mental torture chamber: The pressure of performing at the highest level has taken its toll on the toughest of competitors from Marcus Trescothick and\u00a0Ronnie O\u2019Sullivan to Ben Stokes and now Owen Farrell<\/h1>\n<ul>\n<li><span>Owen Farrell took a break from England rugby to prioritise his mental wellbeing<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span>He joins a list of high-level sports stars who have suffered under the pressure<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span>Marcus Trescothick and Ronnie O&#8217;Sullivan are among those sharing their stories<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>It was the moment everything changed. The shocking, searingly honest account of an elite sportsman in his prime brought to his knees by mental torture and personal trauma.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018I never saw the ball that got me out. I was thinking to myself, \u201cThis is it. I can\u2019t hold this back any longer\u201d,\u2019 wrote England opening batsman Marcus Trescothick. \u2018I\u2019d known for a couple of days I had to go home but it was such a big decision and the ramifications so huge I had tried to fight. Now I just didn\u2019t have any fight left in me.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018I walked in the dressing room, threw my helmet in my bag, and let it all out. I began sobbing uncontrollably. I was in a shell. You could have taken my kit, my money, my life\u2026\u2019<\/p>\n<p>The words are from Coming Back to Me, Trescothick\u2019s seminal autobiography from 2008. Its contents forced elite sport to recognise mental health issues and do something about them. No longer was it weak to admit to anxiety or depression. No longer was it the done thing to suffer in macho silence.<\/p>\n<p>But the landscape changed again this week when England captain Owen Farrell withdrew from the Six Nations and quite possibly beyond to \u2018prioritise his and his family\u2019s mental well-being\u2019. He will not play for Saracens today against Northampton with his club, not entirely convincingly, citing a \u2018minor knee problem\u2019.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/12\/01\/21\/78470673-12816017-The_England_star_has_taken_the_decision_in_a_bid_to_safeguard_th-a-14_1701464771656.jpg\" height=\"423\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Owen Farrell&#8217;s decision not to join England has increased the focus on mental health in sport<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/12\/01\/21\/78487197-12816017-image-m-16_1701464833373.jpg\" height=\"402\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Marcus Trescothick wrote about his struggles when he released his autobiography in 2008<\/p>\n<p>It was the moment the uncompromising world of rugby was forced to admit even the toughest, most high-profile players reach a point when they simply cannot go on any longer without addressing issues affecting the mind, as well as the body blows we can all see.<\/p>\n<p>An opening batsman in cricket, facing the most ferocious deliveries, is the cutting edge position. For the bravest of the brave. Equally, there is no greater individual within a rugby team than a fly-half. The No 10 can have all the pressure on them to win a game for their team with one kick. And Farrell, after citing the effect social media has had on his family, is all too aware of the scrutiny that comes with the position.<\/p>\n<p>Dan Biggar knows the feeling well after a distinguished international career that brought him 112 caps for Wales. \u2018There\u2019s no doubt it is the most pressurised position in rugby and on top of that Owen is the captain as well,\u2019 Biggar tells Mail Sport from his home in France, where he plays for Toulon.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018The No 10 has a lot on his plate in terms of kicking goals, making calls and worrying about the shape of the team. I\u2019m in a similar position to Owen and it does come with the territory in our position in a high-profile game.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018I\u2019ve played against him a fair amount and I know he\u2019s the focal point of any team he\u2019s played for. There\u2019s no doubt he\u2019s always taken a lot on his shoulders and after all these years in the spotlight a couple of months not worrying about everything with England will do him the world of good.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018This is a wake-up call for the game. For someone with as big a profile as Owen to come out and do this is a huge help not only for players but also clubs. As a coach or director of rugby, there\u2019s always pressure to get your best players on the field to get results and something like this could make other teams stand up and deal with things as well as it seems England and Saracens have dealt with it.\u2019<\/p>\n<p>Not that everyone involved in rugby believes Farrell\u2019s withdrawal will change perceptions. Don Macpherson is a leading sports mind coach and author of How to Master Your Monkey Mind who has worked with more than 150 professional rugby players.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018Increasingly players are telling me they are feeling the mental stresses,\u2019 Macpherson tells Mail Sport. \u2018Problem is, the powers that be still don\u2019t see it as important. Head coaches and directors of rugby wait for something like this to happen and then out they come virtue signalling with \u201cwe are going to do this and that\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018I know they are still not doing enough to look after players\u2019 mental health. Last time I looked, Owen Farrell wasn\u2019t a robot. He is human. He likes to give the impression of being indestructible but he\u2019s not.\u2019<\/p>\n<p>Macpherson\u2019s caution is shared by Callum Lea, the former Worcestershire academy cricketer who formed the mental health charity Sporting Minds that has supported 1,900 sportspeople across 115 sports since it was formed in 2020.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018A lot of sporting organisations still see this as a tick box,\u2019 says Lea. \u2018It is still not taken as seriously as physical health resources. Only when sport genuinely sees mental health as a performance issue will we really see change.\u2019<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/12\/01\/21\/78487319-12816017-image-a-17_1701465126173.jpg\" height=\"395\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Steve Harmison covered up long-standing mental health problems during his own career<\/p>\n<p>Cricket, the most individual of sports within a team framework, has been at the forefront of recognising and understanding the issue ever since Trescothick led the way and made a full recovery that now sees him working as an England batting coach. \u2018I wish I\u2019d been brave enough to do what Marcus did when I was at my worst,\u2019 says Steve Harmison, an England team-mate of Trescothick who covered up long-standing mental health problems during his own career as one of England\u2019s best fast bowlers.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018But I didn\u2019t see it as being brave at the time because I don\u2019t think many understood it. A lot more people are brave these days but the level of scrutiny now with 24\/7 news and social media is even more intense and toxic. People might think, \u201cWhat\u2019s that got to do with the way Owen Farrell thinks?\u201d. But we\u2019re human beings.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018As soon as I heard what had happened to him, I didn\u2019t think of him as Owen Farrell England rugby captain. I thought of him as a family man who is struggling inside.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018For Owen as England captain, the weight of the world is on his shoulders and that can break the strongest man if there is something inside him that isn\u2019t working right.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018Rugby is such a macho sport he probably didn\u2019t want to talk to people about it before now. I\u2019ve just watched a cricket World Cup that seemed to last for ever and I think the rugby one was even longer. You\u2019re away from home and you have all that goes with it, with the responsibility of carrying the nation\u2019s hopes on your shoulders as captain, and it\u2019s easy to have negative thoughts go through your mind. I\u2019ve got an enormous amount of sympathy for him.\u2019<\/p>\n<p>Harmison has been there. He, like Trescothick, struggled during the long tours that characterise a career at the very top in cricket. \u2018It\u2019s when the doors close that it becomes an issue,\u2019 he tells Mail Sport this week. \u2018For me the killer was when we were given single rooms on tour because I\u2019d lost the person I could rock over to and have a conversation with. I was alone.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018People used to joke about me and Andrew Flintoff having adjoining rooms on tour but that meant there was a door that was always open to me. I would carry a dartboard around just so people would come to my room to play darts and I wouldn\u2019t be on my own. I carried a suitcase full of sweets on tour so people would come to my room to get a sweet and I would have someone to talk to.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018While people were around me I was OK and when I was on the field I felt safe. It was like I\u2019d left all my demons in the changing room. The dark side was in my hotel room waiting for me at the end of a day.\u2019<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/12\/01\/21\/78487395-12816017-image-a-18_1701465199793.jpg\" height=\"357\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>The Ronnie O\u2019Sullivan documentary shines a light on the mental struggle of elite sportsmen<\/p>\n<p>Farrell\u2019s agonising announcement comes just a week after the launch of the new Ronnie O\u2019Sullivan documentary which shines a light on the mental struggle of an elite sportsman.<\/p>\n<p>After winning his record-equalling seventh snooker world title at the Crucible in 2022, The Edge of Everything candidly captures the Rocket crying into the arms of his children and telling them: \u2018I can\u2019t do this any more. It will kill me.\u2019<\/p>\n<p>Cameras in O\u2019Sullivan\u2019s dressing room also show him on the verge of a nervous breakdown as Judd Trump stages a comeback on the second afternoon of their epic final. \u2018\u2018I feel f****d,\u2019 he says to his psychiatrist, Dr Steve Peters. \u2018My energy is drained. I f***ing hate it. I feel like I want to cry. I feel like I don\u2019t want to face it. I am f***ing, gone. I am scared.\u2019<\/p>\n<p>For others it is missing out on having their shot at glory that sends them spiralling.<\/p>\n<p>Take British shooter Amber Rutter (n\u00e9e Hill), who was world No 1 ahead of Tokyo 2020 only to test positive for Covid the night before she was due to fly, ruling her out of the Games.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018It was the hardest moment of my life,\u2019 says Rutter, who is one of Mail Sport\u2019s Ones to Watch for Paris 2024. \u2018I had never experienced the sadness and depression that I had after that. I got myself into quite a dark place. I resented the sport and I wanted to quit.\u2019<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/12\/01\/21\/78487493-12816017-image-a-21_1701465450836.jpg\" height=\"423\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Amber Rutter (n\u00e9e Hill) suffered sadness and depression when Covid killed her Olympic dream<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/12\/01\/21\/78487463-12816017-image-a-20_1701465384161.jpg\" height=\"384\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Nasser Hussain urges people not to confuse mental health with mental toughness<\/p>\n<p>Nasser Hussain was Trescothick\u2019s first England captain and in his second career as a leading pundit has seen some of his sport\u2019s biggest characters follow the Somerset man\u2019s lead. \u2018Some people were quick to criticise Jonathan Trott when he left an Ashes tour but he was one of the toughest players mentally I\u2019ve ever known,\u2019 says the Mail Sport columnist.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018The point is not to confuse mental health with mental toughness. Look at Ben Stokes. If you want someone for the toughest situations it\u2019s him \u2014 and he has come out in the past and said he has needed time away. Your mind is a muscle like any other part of your body and just like pulling a hamstring or tweaking a calf, your mind can get damaged as well.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018In the old days it was seen as a sign of weakness. Just man up and get on with it used to be the saying. But when you see these people taking a break, it is a strength.\u2019<\/p>\n<p>Clearly there is far more support now across all sport. Dr Hannah Newman is a lecturer in sport and exercise psychology at Middlesex University and is based at StoneX Stadium in north London where Farrell will continue to play, at least when he has recovered from his knee \u2018injury\u2019, for Saracens. Newman is also, to declare an interest, this correspondent\u2019s daughter.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018Mental health roles are becoming more and more common across elite sport,\u2019 she says. \u2018There are sport and exercise psychologists in most of these settings but you also see mental health support workers or athlete welfare officers now so there has been an escalation of those sort of roles.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018There\u2019s a wider growing understanding and awareness that we shouldn\u2019t be developing an athlete\u2019s mind just for success but we\u2019ve got the well-being side of things to think about now as well.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018The fact we are seeing a rise in the number of players taking breaks suggests there has been some sort of culture shift towards acceptance of well-being having to come first.\u2019<\/p>\n<p>There is no question, as Farrell and those close to him have attested to, that social media plays a big part in negatively affecting the mental health of many sportspeople.<\/p>\n<p>One victim of its excesses is former England coach and Mail Sport columnist David Lloyd, who lost his job as one of cricket\u2019s leading commentators after becoming embroiled in the Azeem Rafiq affair when a private conversation on Twitter was leaked and taken out of context. Bumble, as he is known, is still affected, almost two years on.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/12\/01\/21\/78487433-12816017-image-a-19_1701465299702.jpg\" height=\"435\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>David Lloyd &#8211; aka Bumble &#8211; noted that social media had made many mental health issues worse<\/p>\n<p>\u2018Mental health just wasn\u2019t a thing during my playing career,\u2019 he says. \u2018We always had that sort of stiff upper lip and get on with it attitude. But from a personal point of view, I\u2019ve really suffered after what has happened to me over the last couple of years.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018I\u2019ve had a really bad time and because I\u2019m 76 I\u2019ve not felt that I could reach out and ask for help. I\u2019ve felt that it\u2019s not the done thing. It\u2019s a question of \u201cpull your bloody socks up\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018But I know it shouldn\u2019t be like that. Owen Farrell has been hit hard by social media and has done something about it.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018It\u2019s an absolute brute. It\u2019s an absolute cesspit. I noticed one tweet from Kevin Pietersen the other day which simply said \u201csurely social media is not meant to be so vile\u201d. I thought, \u201cYou\u2019re not wrong there, mate\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018Even this last week I was called a \u201cwhite colonial pig\u201d on Twitter. I\u2019d done a podcast on the World Cup and we just talked about Pakistan chopping and changing.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018This bloke came straight out with it. It\u2019s not even a question of avoiding comments on a social media post because as soon as I went on to listen, it just hit me between the eyes. Sometimes you just can\u2019t avoid these things.\u2019<\/p>\n<p>And that is why there is still a long way to go in the battle for good mental health in elite sport and beyond. Owen Farrell has proven that this week. No hiding place, no escape.<\/p>\n<p>Source: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/sport\/rugbyunion\/article-12816017\/Pressure-performing-highest-level-taken-toll-toughest-competitors-Trescothick-Rocket-Stokes-Farrell-inside-SPORTS-MENTAL-TORTURE-CHAMBER.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Read Full Article<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"mh-excerpt\"><p>Sport&#8217;s mental torture chamber: The pressure of performing at the highest level has taken its toll on the toughest of competitors from Marcus Trescothick and\u00a0Ronnie <a class=\"mh-excerpt-more\" href=\"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/rugby-union\/sports-mental-torture-chamber-how-pressure-takes-a-toll-on-athletes\/\" title=\"Sport&amp;apos;s mental torture chamber: How pressure takes a toll on athletes\">[&#8230;]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":296850,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.8 - 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