Resilience In Athletes
Resilience In Athletes
Advantage Through Resilience
Driven is used by top athletic teams to assess resilience, provide meaningful personal insight, and increase performance.
WHY IT MATTERS
- Athletes are impacted by various factors like wins and losses, injuries, rigorous training, opponents, fans, teammates and coaches
- It is often their ability to advance despite adversity that decides whether an athlete succeeds or not
What is resilience in athletes?
Resilience is the ability for athletes to advance despite adversity such as injuries, lost competitions, change of circumstances, and other stressors at the gym, home, and with themselves.
Why is resilience in athletes so important?
To achieve and sustain high performance, athletes have to withstand a wide range of stressors throughout their sporting careers.
Mental health symptoms
46.4% of elite athletes were experiencing symptoms of at least one of the mental health problems
Psychological distress
Psychological distress has a negative impact on sport achievement and psychological well-being
Performance sustainability
Resilience has a significant positive correlation with sport achievement and sustainable high performance
Signs of athletes struggling with mental health
A change in behaviour is often a first sign of mental suffering of an athlete. For example:
- Lack of motivation or interest in their sport
- Disconnect from or conflict with others
- Difficulty staying focused
- Feeling overly worried, sad or worthless
- Changes in eating habits / Obsession with losing or gaining weight
- Moodiness
- Finding it hard to cope with pressure
Why are mental health issues of athletes sometimes reported or treated late?
- Fear of consequences e.g. having to take a break / leave the team
- Stigma – Seeing asking for help as a weakness
- Lack of time, due to training sessions and other commitments
- No access to mental health support or not sure who to ask
- Difficulty in expressing emotions and thoughts
How to build positive mental health in athletes?
Athletes often don’t look for support due to the negative stigma and potentially affecting their team placements. This is why investing in athlete resilience is so important.
Build confidence among your athletes and provide constructive feedback
Educate yourself and your athletes about mental health
Encourage your athletes to talk about their feelings and provide them with support
Teach them coping skills to become more resilient
Provide scenarios for them to anticipate and improve problem solving skills
Make sure they eat healthy and sleep well
Let your athlete rest until fully recovered after an injury
Develop coping strategies to become mentally stronger
Resilience is a process which is built up by an individual over time
Examples of improved resilience in athletes
Resilient athletes perform better
Mental health
- Manage stress
- Reduce anxiety
- Stay optimistic
- Manage change & setbacks
Physical health
- Less fatigued
- Better sleep hygiene
- Consistent eating habits
Psychosocial
- Greater emotional intelligence
- Can deal with difficult people
- Improved communication skills
Sport club's performance
- Boost athlete success & retention
- Better ability to attract new talent
- Higher potential return
How to build resilience in athletes?
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Identify strengths & weaknesses, get personalised activities & measure results.
How do we teach resilience?
1. Resilience Certification
Get certified
Learn about the latest in resilience coaching with our accredited resilience coaching course (CReC) and become a Certified Resilience Coach.
2. Resilience Assessment
Measure resilience
Assess your client’s resilience with our peer-reviewed, scientific scale called the PR6 which is based on the 6 domains of resilience.
3. Resilience Report
Evaluate resilience
You’ll receive a detailed report about your client’s strengths and weaknesses in comparison to people’s average.
4. Driven App & Desktop
Build resilience
Your clients get personalised activities based on their needs to help in the moment as well as preventative exercises via our desktop and phone app.
