Does sport strengthen or ruin relationships?

Dan Laughlan Sports Editor

Competitiveness can get the better of everyone. Watching a partner get overly competitive and letting their bad side show over a game of Monopoly would be more than enough to turn some people off.

However, the intensity of professional sport can bring the best and worst out of people which can typically spill over and effect relationships.

A study found that the divorce rate among professional athletes was around 70%. This can be attributed to the complications sport can add to a relationship.

Performing at elite levels brings stress and pressure so great, an athlete can find it hard to switch off and relax away from it.

There is also fame and fortune to deal with. As more doors open and new possibilities arise, someone can become a very different person to who they used to be. This as well as lots of time spent travelling and being away from home can damage, once strong, relationships.

For example, Tom Brady (can’t get enough of him this issue) and Gisele Bündchen’s recent divorce. A committed relationship that has seen the pair ‘grow apart’ which could be linked to Brady’s want to continue playing American Football and Bündchen’s desire for him to stop.

However, there are also many examples where a couple’s relationship has strengthened whilst one or both competed professionally. Jason Kenny and Laura Trott were two of

Britain’s best cyclists already before getting married. Combined they have won 15 Olympic medals, making them the most successful married couple in Olympic history, and have both gone on to become ‘Sir’ and ‘Dame’ respectively.

Moreover, Alex Morgan and her husband Servando Carrasco are both footballers who play for teams which are located at opposite ends of the US. Carrasco stated that ‘it’s far from ideal to be that far from your wife’ but that ‘this is temporary’, that their careers will only last for a few more years and then ‘we’ll be together’. Both Morgan and Carrasco have enjoyed successful careers despite the added complications to their marriage proving sport and relationships can co-exist.

What is important to note is that every situation and person is different. There is no formula to making relationships work and that’s perfectly fine. It is also natural for relationships to be strengthened in the aftermath of it being tested, but it is true that the effect of sport can be both positive and negative on relationships.

14th February 2023 concrete-online.co.uk/sport/