Of Sports stars and their mental health - Face the heat to win

Tennis player Naomi Osaka pulled the spotlight on the difficulty elite sportspersons face when overcoming personal mental health issues by pulling out of the French Open women singlesGymnast Simone Biles did a similar act on a bigger stage the Tokyo Olympic Games withdrawing from the vault event after a failed first attempt publicly stating that twisties mind and body not synchronising during the airborne twist as the explanation for her drastic decisionOlympic shooting finalist at Athens 2004 in 10m air rifle Suma Shirur high performance rifle coach for India at Tokyo 2020 feels that sportspersons were always dealing with mental issues now people are talking about the problemPressure inevitableldquoEvery sportsperson at some point feels this heat Tournaments have increased so it takes a lot more to keep yourself at that level plus stress from the sponsors stress from the family after failure the intensity of competitions adds uprdquoFounder of the Lakshya Shooting Club LSC in Panvel she stressed on the problem of younger sportspersons confined to their homes during the pandemic as the right time to address this mental wellbeing issueldquoI started shooting at 18 more mature in tackling the issues along the way Now very young kids pick up the sport combine that with expectations from parents with no idea of what it takes to do well in sport The other part is the pandemicrdquoSuma ShirurShe added ldquoChildren starting very young are under competitive stress donrsquot know how to deal with it pressure from parents and then the pandemic Two years of no sport no competitionhellipmost kids are still locked up in their houses little outdoor activity Teenagers and youngsters need kids of their age to share emotions anxieties Feeling lonely with no idea where they are headed is tough for those just stepping into competitive sport You take that away they donrsquot know how to handle itrdquoSad situationReacting to a query on few young shooters in India reportedly taking own lives for reasons not clear Suma said ldquoThe sad cases of youngsters who could not deal with situations is a wakeup call for everyone in sport in whatever capacity Parents need to be more understanding of what lies beneath what you see As coaches it is important to hire experts in dealing with the mindrdquoShe was speaking at the 12th RR Lakshya Cup an annual invitation rifle shooting event held by Lakshya SCTalking from own experience of coaching during the lockdown months she said ldquoDuring the 18 months of online coaching to stay connected with the club trainees we realised that nothing is going to have an effect on kidsrsquo mindset We had to hire a psychologist Trainees may not be frank with me but share their feelings with a pro who knows how to approach the issue The need was always there the pandemic made us sit up and take noticerdquo