The official magazine of the Football Medicine & Performance Association
football medicine & performance
Issue 30 Autumn 2019
Feature
David Cotterill’s Road to Recovery FOCUS ON: Mental Health The Role of a Psychotherapist in a Football League Club Hidden in Plain Sight – Mental Health Challenges in Football Clubs Substance Abuse and Gambling in Professional Football Managing Mental Health Emergencies in Elite Football
Legal Ţ Education Ţ Recruitment Ţ Wellbeing
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CONTENTS WELCOME
8
Updates
FEATURES
10
Injury Mitigation in Team Sports. Part-1: A Review of Current Dogma Colin W. Fuller
13
The Role of Football Clubs in Supporting Community Mental Health Initiatives Dr Alan Pringle
15
David Cotterill’s Road to Recovery
16
The Role of a Psychotherapist in a Football League Club Gary Bloom
20
Mental Health Symptoms in Professional Football Vincent Gouttebarge, Gino Kerkhoffs
24
ABOUT
27
Golf. The Ultimate Mind Game? Dr Andrew Murray
28
Substance Abuse and Gambling in Professional Football Gary Souter
32
Mental Health of the Elite Young Athlete Manroy Sahni, Johnson Pok-Him Tam
34
Managing Mental Health Emergencies in Elite Football Tim Rogers
37
Getting Back in the Driving Seat: Taking Control of Your Work, Life and Wellbeing
40
FMPA Register
Hidden in Plain Sight – Mental Health Challenges in Football Clubs Dr Misia Gervis, Lara Baker, Osimeiro Imoedemhe
Football Medicine & Performance Association 6A Cromwell Terrace, Gisburn Road, Barrowford, Lancashire, BB9 8PT T: 0333 456 7897 E: info@fmpa.co.uk W: www.fmpa.co.uk FMPA_Official Officialfmpa fmpa_official LinkedIn: Football Medicine & Performance Association FMPA_Register FMPARegister fmpa_register Chief Executive Officer Eamonn Salmon eamonn.salmon@fmpa.co.uk
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Executive Administrator Lindsay Butler admin@fmpa.co.uk
Photography PA Images, FMPA, Getty Images
Administration Assistant Amie Hodgson amie.hodgson@fmpa.co.uk Project Manager Angela Walton angela.walton@fmpa.co.uk Marketing/Advertising Charles Whitney 0845 004 1040
Contributors Colin W. Fuller, Dr Alan Pringle, Gary Bloom, Vincent Gouttebarge, Gino Kerkhoffs, Dr Misia Gervis, Lara Baker, Osimeiro Imoedemhe, Dr Andrew Murray, Gary Souter, Manroy Sahni, Johnson Pok-Him Tam, Tim Rogers Print Media Village www.media-village.co.uk
COVER IMAGE Birmingham City’s David Cotterill. Birmingham City v Nottingham Forest - Sky Bet Championship - St Andrew’s. Dave Howarth / EMPICS Sport / PA Images
Football Medicine & Performance Association. All rights reserved. The views and opinions of contributors expressed in Football Medicine & Performance are their own and not necessarily of the FMPA Members, FMPA employees or of the association. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a retrieval system without prior permission except as permitted under the Copyright Designs Patents Act 1988. Application for permission for use of copyright material shall be made to FMPA. For permissions contact admin@fmpa.co.uk
mental feature health
THE ROLE OF A PSYCHOTHERAPIST IN A FOOTBALL LEAGUE CLUB FEATURE / GARY BLOOM A 13 year old boy sat opposite me – his head bowed in the small counselling room. His said.
Gary Bloom Sports psychotherapist Gary Bloom works for a football league club. Here he explains what the benefits are of having a sports psychotherapist on the payroll.
“I’m gonna do it an’ all – I mean it – I’ve written the note to Mum saying goodbye and I’ve got the tablets – you won’t see me again after today.” Before working in a football club I’ve worked as a psychotherapist embedded within state schools in the south of England. My job there was to work with under achieving pupils both behaviourally and academically. Tommy (not his real name), was quite typical of the students I was working with. Very bright although underachieving, and eeking out a living selling soft drugs locally, but found himself in the impossibly traumatizing situation of being caught in the crossfire of the messy divorce between his Mum and Dad.
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Dad was a heavy user of drugs himself and yet the pair were close. Tommy‘s Mum, hoping to protect her son, banned all contact between son and dad, and Tommy was having to deal with life without Dad, and finding it hard. Tommy’s suicide intentions were real enough, and with help from the school and social services we stopped a deteriorating situation getting worse. Last I heard Tommy was doing okay. So when a football manager contacted me at the start of last season to see if I could help him (they were firmly planted at the bottom of the league) I wondered if the same philosophies I brought to the state school (prevention before cure) could work. But whereas the school students have been politely requested by their Headteacher to engage with me, how would a group of pro footballers react
football medicine & performance when a psychotherapist came through the gates of the training ground. A colleague of mine had warned me that I would encounter the ‘one third rule’ – a third of the squad would buy into my work, a third would be polite but have minimum engagement and a third would ignore me. That colleague was right but, just like my work within the schools, this article is about the way an embedded psychotherapeutic influence can make positive change possible. I visited the training ground every Thursday morning when the first team manager would check in with me about his stress and also shared with me his concerns about which players were on his mind – or disturbing his sleep, as he used to put it. The first match I attended the team lost at home and with the home fans chanting “you’re getting sacked in the morning“ and the managers PA in tears, I knew I had a job and a half to do. The manager had a tendency for disputing every decision with the fourth official, which wasn’t going down well with the keyboard warriors on social media. Post match interviews were sometimes a frustrated rant against the officials who had given a marginal decision against his team, which had cost the club dear or he’s occasionally blame the players for a defeat. This was the area I worked on first. I urged him (one of the most modern thinking managers in the game today) to praise the fans more, accept the highs and lows of the game, and leave the fourth official alone. I worked with him on finding a balance between emotional energy on the touchline and a more measured front. Not an easy compromise for any coach or manger. Progress was slow but the team began to pick up points. I worked on the inter-personal relationships within and across the club, dealing with issues such as bullying and sexism, and aiming to improve the cohesiveness amongst players and staff. Working closely with four first team players who were struggling with their form, we addressed standard psychotherapeutic issues such as relationships, depression and anxiety, along with issues that might normally fall within the ‘sport psychology’ category
such as focus and concentration, visualisation techniques, and goal setting – both literal and metaphorical. Some players were dealing with personal problems that once resolved resulted in a quick upturn in their form. One player went from first-team outcast to regular starter and with his performances catching the eye, got a new loan deal at the seasons end. It wasn’t just the first team who were interested in my work. I offered support to the first team coaching staff who were struggling with personal issues and then extended my services to the academy - working with players from 9 to 23 years old. I held seminars with all the academy coaches, players and parents, gently educating them about the psychological impact of criticism and praise, and how to use both more effectively, and how to best support and nurture the adolescent talents. I’d love to report that I got 100% buy in from the get go, but that would not be true. Initially there were many sceptics, one match day when the team had been narrowly beaten, an associate director commented to me; “Blimey! I thought you were here to help.” I often felt in an impossible position - lose and it was my fault – win and it had nothing to do with me. Yet over the course of the season, as trust and respect grew, more and more players confided in me and I found myself working closely with the 4 first-team regulars who’s improving form helped guide the club to safety by the season’s end. My end of season report detailed the player survey results at the start and end of the season measuring their relationship with the football club, utilised the strength and conditioning stats to illustrate improvements of the 4 players I worked most closely with, and used theoretical transfer values to put actual monetary figures on their enhanced performance. I was trying to assess what is notoriously difficult to measure – the impact of a psychotherapist on the football club. I proudly submitted my glossy report full of data and shiny graphics, statistics and charts and sent it off to the board of directors and waited eagerly for a response.
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There was none. Nothing. Nada. But it must have had an impact, as four months later and I have been invited back to begin a new season of work that I hope will go deeper and wider in all its aspects. If you’re wondering what the results are of my data here it is.
The Results
The ‘4’s‘ theoretical transfer value went up by 400% Their strength and conditioning statistics improve by a third. Results improve to a point where the club ended up in mid-table. The tactical awareness of the “4“ showed marked improvement. Coaching staff and players connectivity with the club and each other improved based on the survey results.
I think it fair to say not every person at the club will be rushing to see me next season – I know that. But I take comfort that the member of staff most sceptical of psychotherapeutic services approached me at the season’s end last May and whispered; “Look - it’s not for me this stuff, but I’ve seen the difference you’ve made.“ High praise indeed.
To contact Gary Bloom email g.bloom@cognacity.co.uk
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