#FeedTheSoul is a quaterly event for experts in the field of athletes' wellness, life skills, transition and support outside of sports. These conversations serve to support the on-going learning and best practices of experts in this field.
UPCOMING EVENTS
#FeedTheSoul July event - Thursday July 30
Join professionals in the field of athlete development. This conversation aims at sharing Best Practices, knowledge and experience. It is also an opportunity to network with others in this field.
#FeedTheSoul Virtual Summit - Thursday August 27 and Friday August 28
This is our annual virtual summit. Join us for two half days of presentations and discussions on Athlete development and transition with speakers from the universities and pro sports field.
PREVIOUS EVENTS
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#FeedTheSoul - May 28, 2020 - Key Takeaways
What are the biggest challenges athletes have faced in the last three months?
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What advice can you share to address these challenges?
How have you or your school addressed these challenges?
What should be the focus of athlete development right now and moving forward?
What challenges do you foresee in the upcoming months or next season?
Is this situation going to bring radical changes to the athlete support and development field?
- Control the controllables, focus on things where they can see results
- Sharing feelings with peers, talking about frustration and other emotions
- It is important for the coaches to take care of themselves as well since they are the ones directly in contact with the athletes and serving as the athletes’ role models
- Alex Auerbach outlines the necessity to have clear communication and transparency on the situation especially on how it could affect future play time, positions, scholarships…
- Note that technology and virtual connectivity isn’t an issue for this generation of athletes
How have you or your school addressed these challenges?
- Connecting virtually through individual and group meetings and social media
- Meeting and educating the coaches and staff
- Michael Sagas outlined for the athletes to learn from this experience as it will feel very similar to the Life After Sports transition that is coming.
What should be the focus of athlete development right now and moving forward?
- Resilience and coping skills
- Taking the time to process and share emotions
- Identity building outside of sports and developing the “whole” person, exploration, career development and planning, education and development of life skills
What challenges do you foresee in the upcoming months or next season?
- Still in crisis, situation not resolved yet so continuing to manage ambiguity and confusion
- Fear of getting the virus but not being able to speak up about it because there is pressure from the industry to go back to sports
- For those who share their fears, possibility to be isolated from the rest of the team, not being able to interact as usual with others
- Smaller teams, less travel, impact on team dynamics, different competitive experience, pressure to perform well
- Potential loss of opportunity to compete
- Higher risk of injuries when returning to training and competition
Is this situation going to bring radical changes to the athlete support and development field?
- Still hard to tell, we are still in the crisis, need to wait a few months to see how things evolve
- The situation definitely shed light on how unprepared the whole industry was but also on the importance of mental health practitioners and support for athletes
- Also highlighted the necessity for more and on-going education and innovation in the field of athlete development to the athletes as well as the coaches and support staff
- Hopefully this raise awareness for the need to support athletes in full spectrum of development and not just physical skill development.
Alex Auerbach, Ph.D. MBA
Director of Clinical and Sport Psychology, University of Arizona |
Lauren Loberg, Ph.D.
Sport Psychology Consultant, Pyramid Performance Consulting |
Erika Fay, LFMT
Family Therapist and Success Coach, Maximum Achievement Coaching |
Michael Sagas, ED. D.
Professor & Interim Chair, Sport Management, University of Florida |
