Some can view sport as a question of make-it or break-it. But questionable training cultures and concerns around toxic training environments have been under the spotlight in recent times. The Nike Oregon project and British Cycling, to name two of the more high-profile cases, have been rocked by accusations of a culture of bullying, shady practices and medical mismanagement (https://www.bbc.com/sport/athletics/51599747). These accusations often centre around dominant, didactic coaches. Some athletes have now broken their silence and given their perspectives on the culture inside these highly successful teams. Are these isolated cases? Doubtful. But what is it about the culture of...
Why is it that an individual would chose to partake in sport, in full knowledge that the process could lead to injuries that could have serious consequences for their wellbeing, or at worst give them lifelong issues such as brain damage or persistent pain? Can culture hold the key? When put like that it seems strange that so many people do partake in sports that contain high risks, and the same people return to such sports frequently after significant injuries. We have discussed before the lack of perspective that many athletes may need to have in order to pursue their...
Ahhh, the old Premier League manager merry-go round, struggling to keep track of who works where when the same old faces show up in new places? You may not be alone. The Premier League is once again in full swing and just as interesting as the results, it would seem, is the speculation around which manager will lose their job first. Before the poor fellow is even out of a job people are already excitedly debating who should replace them. It can’t have escaped the attention of anyone that Premier League football clubs replace their managers at an alarmingly high,...
I know it sounds like the beginnings of a joke, but in 2010 an octopus hit the limelight through successfully “predicting” the results of the football World Cup. When the next World Cup rolled around in 2014 there were a plethora of other animals jostling for the honour of following the octopus’s metaphorical (and wet) footsteps. The success or otherwise of these animals’ ability to predict results shows that predicting football results, particularly in the football World Cup is rather tricky. Chance may do similarly well as experts. If anyone was able to predict football results with regularity the game...
David Moyes and Sam Allardyce have both been relieved of their duties after only 6 months in charge of their respective teams. Neither team was relegated, Everton finished 8th in the Premier League. So what is the meaning of success for these clubs? Are their chairmen and boards ever satisfied with what they achieve? Employment and sacking of managers is in the hands of the team’s chairmen or leadership groups, these days either super rich individuals or business men with football as part of their portfolios. Perhaps dissatisfaction is in the nature of elite individuals. How else would they be...
How is it that some human beings can enter and run ultra-marathon races that last 6 whole days, where they run the majority of that time and some human beings suffer such ultra-intense back pain that they feel unable to move from the house or a chair for days perhaps weeks on end? The body’s physical tolerance has an enormous spectrum, using the example above we can see that some people believe their body capable tolerating great stress and some that it can tolerate very little. How can our bodies be accustomed to such a wide array of demands? Of...
“The media”, newspapers, radio, TV pundits, even bloggers are well known for analysing and often criticising sports teams and athletes. It is a cliché answer that sportspeople say they ignore the media, “just focus on what we do”. But is that really true? With social media abundant among sportspeople messages must get through. The question may therefore actually be how does it affect them- motivation or inhibition? The Italian football team, possibly missing out on the World cup finals for the first time in nearly 60 years have suffered a metaphorical battering from their media. They haven’t actually lost their...
Sporting heroes, people to be marked and remembered. Sometimes the athletes and sports people who are revered seem almost super human. It is likely that they are. The individuals who achieve the highest levels in sport clearly require certain characteristics, often extreme ones. One such essential characteristic is likely an intense inward focus, which may at times approach self-absorption. Two recent interviews provide a good example of the necessity of this characteristic. The England and Surrey cricketer Zafar Ansari recently retired from all cricket aged 25. Chris Froome just won his his 4th Tour De France. Their interviews give insight...
As the clock ticks over, one extra second too this year, into 2017 and the festivities cease and minds begin to turn to the New Year and new aims. Many people might be considering something new or getting back into something old after a gap, short or long. Particularly when it comes to exercise the New Year is a prime time for us to “get back into it”. Combining the excesses of Christmas eating and drinking, the time off to refresh the body and mind and the return to routine often prompts an increase in physical activity. This is a...
It is a complicated subject why we get injured, but we will try a quick summary! Sporting and domestic injuries can be extremely frustrating and debilitating to normal life. The gap between what we want to be able to achieve and what we can do leads to distress. Sometimes these injuries can disrupt our lives for many months. But why do we get injured? This is not as simple as just “pulling a muscle” or “spraining a wrist” where some external force exceeds the capacity of the tissue- although this is a significant factor in many cases. The body does...
