Abstract from Academic Research as part of the Coaching Diploma, Kastelein 2019
Athletes undergo numerous stressors that affect their mental health and wellbeing. From research literature, three main categories of stressors can be identified. First, they face stress related to their competitive performance. Issues such as underperforming, dealing with injuries, meeting team expectations, and rivalries negatively affect athletes’ mental health. The second category of stressors includes organisational issues such as cultural problems, leadership and teamwork issues, and performance issues. These issues have been found to affect athletes’ mental health negatively. Lastly, an athlete’s mental health can be affected by personal non-sport-related issues such as family and work-life balance. With so many stressors in place, sports coaches should create an awareness and understanding on how to support their athlete’s in preventing mental wellbeing issues and on how to deal with them when they arise. However, the development of mental wellbeing interventions in sport settings remain relatively underdeveloped and are often poorly theorised. To fill this gap, a mental wellbeing training programme was developed that sports coaches can use to integrate mental wellbeing training in their sports coaching practice.
