COVID-19 and Sport
COVID-19 is out there doing its thing and for many Sports-People it feels as though it is stopping us doing our thing. Read on to find out how to manage this period of unknown as our performance psychologist Mark Bellamy provides us with some pearls of wisdom.
First of all, let’s recognise that this is a period in our lives that will pass, but it is also a period where we are being asked to come out of our precious routines that by and large form our lives. We need to have the flexibility and growth in our approaches to enable us to mitigate the impact of the virus on us, our friends and families and those in the broader society.
Let’s look at how we can reframe this new reality and make it work for us.
As athletes, there is the potential disappointment of a season disrupted at best and cancelled at worst.
There is however a bigger picture and the opportunity to take a broader perspective on how we want to live and support the society in which we live. Athletes have a role to play here, not only do they take on extra load when they train and put their bodies through the rigours of development and their minds through the pressure of performing under pressure, but they then have to perform under a strict set of artificially enforces rules.
Let’s take these skills as athletes and understand the wider perspective of the times we are living in. Most of us are more used to disappointment than absolute success, we are used to training hard without always getting our just rewards, we are used to looking after our teammates and being supported by them and our wider team.
Let’s make this a time where we bring our athletic skills to a wider use and accept that how we behave now reflects on us as valuable human beings and not simply as athletes.
Think about the hierarchy of importance in your life?
Your loved ones, your health, your family, your peers, your development as a person, your development as an athlete?
None of this is lost with Corona Virus, what is lost is the short-term opportunity to perform and yes that can take some getting over. But that is part of your skill base as an athlete and now is an opportunity to bring that skill into play. Now is a time to have a broader perspective and an acceptance of the new reality of the situation that we all find ourselves in.
If the season is simply disrupted
If the season is simply disrupted, then the question you need to answer is:
What you need to do to come back from a base level to a performance level. That is the one skill you need to make sure you have ready for action. Who do you need in your team to work on this?
If the season is written off, then the opportunity is to consider how you can use the period for development?
How can this period without the complication of competition be best utilised to develop myself as an athlete and a human being?
Now, we know there will be a playoff between our emotional brain and what we want and our rational brain, and what we need to do. Be kind to yourself and give some time to let that playout, and if that means a week of going easy then so be it, but ensure that you end up doing what is best for you in the long term and the decisions that you make are ones that you can be proud of and reflect sound ethics and support others and their wellbeing.
We do however have an opportunity:
How often does the competitive season arrive when you are ready and primed?
How can you use this time to ensure that you have developed those areas that you would like to work on?
How often does the time arrive when you have that little bit of extra time to do something that is totally different?
Within the confines of the world in which we find ourselves there is actually more than enough room for creativity, there is more than enough room to live by our values, and there is more than enough room to look around and see who could benefit from some support.
Now, for many of us, structure will seem to rapidly disappear from our lives. I have been working with the 4 x 3 format with many of my clients to put a little structure and framework into the day and to make sure there is enough stuff in there to give a positive emotion that we have the energy to put in some of the other key ingredients to make each day work.
So in simple terms get the following into your days before you make it any more complicated:
3 x 20 minutes exercise
3 x 20 minutes social phone calls
3 x activities that bring you joy
3 x meals that truly nourish you.
Remember that none of us have been here before, but that does not mean we cannot live in a way that enhances us as human beings, and before you are athletes each and every-one of us is a valuable human being, get that right and the sport will be waiting for us when this is all over and you will have developed in who you are.
Mark Bellamy
We’re here to help
Tri Training Harder are one of the leading Triathlon coaching providers in the UK, using our wealth of experience to unite scientific and technological research with already well-established and successful best practices, to create a formula for triathlon and endurance coaching that works.
The result is an honest, dynamic, yet simple new way of constructing an athlete’s training to allow them to reach their potential.
If you’re planning your next season, just starting out in the sport or are looking for extra guidance at the very top end of the field, we are here to help, and our coaches would be delighted to hear from you. You can contact us via the website, and one of the team will be in touch.