The public openings of top athletes change the culture of professional sports and lower the threshold for asking for help.
In professional sports, we talk more openly about coping with life outside of sports and surviving in everyday life, says the certified psychological coach of the sports academy in the Kuopio region Sami Tapaninen.
According to Tapaninen, competitive sports in particular have long been associated with a culture of coping, where asking for help is interpreted as a sign of weakness.
– Sports culture is changing in small steps for the better, but many can still feel a certain kind of shame, whether they are bad or have failed. That it is a weakness if, for example, you cry.
The Kuopio sports academy is a regional top sports network that enables sports and studies to be combined and supports athletes in other areas of life as well. The academy operates as part of the sports academy program coordinated by the Finnish Olympic Committee.
According to Tapaninen, the aim is to act preventively to support athletes and coaches in such a way that bigger challenges do not accumulate.
– The purpose is to be accessible at a low threshold and to guide, if necessary, to the services of a psychologist, for example.
Public openings take sports in a healthier direction
For example, a hockey player has told about the mental challenges caused by professional sports Patrick Laine and septuagenarian Mary Huntington.
Tapaninen believes that the public openings of top athletes will take the development of sports culture in a better direction and lower the threshold for asking for help.
Athletes can be the subject of constant criticism not only because of their sports performance but also because of their physical condition and appearance.
– Sports is not a separate fortress from any society or everyday life of the moment. However, an athlete is always a person first, and then after that comes the athlete in it.
Coaches’ training focuses on well-being
According to Tapaninen, the old-fashioned image of a coach shouting on the side of the field is becoming more human, but an athlete can still have a great threshold to tell the coach about his own challenges.
– In the entire field of sports, coach training has begun to focus on the psychological side and well-being. We try to give advice and tools on how to meet and help athletes with a low threshold.
In terms of athletes’ well-being, it is important that it is safe to be on the team or on the field. For this purpose, various channels have also been added to report inappropriate treatment, such as the joint project of Väestöliito and Finnish sports You are not alone. The goal of the project is to prevent and reduce bullying and experiences of sexual harassment and violence in sports.
The Finnish Olympic Committee also organizes responsible coach training, where coaches are guided in developing a mentally and socially safe operating environment.