Expert says athletes are almost never ready for a career change

Athletes are almost never prepared for the changes that occur in their careers, even though they face them all the time, Professor Paul Willeman said on Tuesday during an event on mental health organized by the Olympic Athletes Commission.

“It’s time for this topic to stop being the elephant in the room,” said Diana Gomez, president of the Olympic Athletes Commission (AOC), at the start of Power Talks on mental health during career transitions, with the theme: “Caught in” by the Sports Professional psychology, career management and sports performance, as well as the mental health of athletes.

Paul Willeman began his speech at the Portuguese Olympic Committee (COP) headquarters in Lisbon by noting that to understand an athlete’s post-career it is necessary to “understand what happened before” in his career.

“You need to talk to athletes about their career; it’s not enough to just talk about their post-career. Any sports career is a series of transitions. Transitions always impact an athlete’s development, performance and well-being,” argued, before emphasizing that “mental health is not determined by the transition, but rather by how the athlete copes with it.”

According to a professor at the Vrije University of Brussels, who collaborated with the Dutch mission to Tokyo 2020 and is currently working with the Belgian and Japanese Olympic Committees, “athletes are almost never prepared for the transition period, despite systematically facing it.” .

“The system does not provide mechanisms for athletes to prepare for the transition,” he believes, arguing that “end of career is the most important transition all athletes face.”

In a lengthy speech in which he touched on topics such as the importance of giving athletes a “framework to understand their journey” or the existence of mental health issues even among athletes with “high levels of well-being,” Willeman warned. to the fact that “sometimes” you learn “a lot more by listening than by checking.”

“We need to pay more attention to the reasons that lead athletes to retire,” he stressed, pointing out the various factors that can lead an athlete to quit their competitive career, which range from achieving goals, injuries, lack of support from the federation or others, a desire to have time to yourself and do other things, or a lack of motivation caused by stress, anxiety or pressure.

However, the post-career period comes with other challenges: the expert reports that 29% of former elite athletes face problems with anxiety/depression, 27% with eating disorders, 23% with alcohol use, 22% with sleep disorders and 18% – with sleep disorders. suffering, and 16% have at least two symptoms.

In front of an audience that included current and former athletes such as thrower Francisco Belo, athlete Catia Azevedo, canoeist Emanuel Silva, triathlete João Silva or sailor João Rodrigues, the Belgian specialist warned of the need to think about what they will do when they retire , not forgetting about the coaches.

To achieve this, it is necessary to “have knowledge of career management” as well as its communication, namely, to be able to explain to others what their plans are, their qualities and even their shortcomings, encouraging “networking”.

According to Willeman, who defined this dimension as “career resilience,” the ability to cope with stress, self-confidence and the ability to seek solutions, as well as a problem-solving mindset, are important characteristics.

“I think sometimes our politicians don’t understand what they can do other than give money and take pictures with athletes at the Olympics,” he said, calling attention to the lack of post-athlete programs. career.

“I think we can tell our politicians that they can do a little more for a little more money,” he stressed, assessing that the years athletes devote to high-level competition should be reflected in their salaries when they find a profession after retirement. sports.