In this month’s GQ Magazine, AFL footballer Ben Cousins talks about his time away from football and how that ‘time away’ only exaggerated his personal problems.
It’s not hard to understand why. Sportspeople live a regimented life. It’s not all glamour. Most of their time is extremely structured. Train, eat, sleep and repeat.
Take that structure away and the athlete feels like their life has been turned upside down. This can lead to emotional breakdown and other issues. Before you tell me athletes are overpaid and live a privileged life and should “harden the f#*ck up” let me put it this way. Anyone who ‘lives to work’ instead of ‘works to live’ can relate to this feeling.
Let’s say you work Mon-Fri. You love your job. You do valuable work. You enjoy the people you work with. And you like the structure that work brings to your life. But what happens when the weekend rolls around and you’re not doing valuable work, and you’re not around your work mates and the structure you enjoy is put on hold? Do you feel kinda lost? Well imagine having that feeling for weeks or even months, and you begin to understand what its like for an athlete suffering a season ending injury or suspension.
The lesson here for athlete managers is to be on guard when your athlete suffers a lay-off. Make sure they have other pursuits or areas of interest to work on. In a football club, this might be working with the coach more closely or working in the head office. Anything that gives the athlete a challenge or something to work towards is great. In Ben Cousins case, it was the challenge of completing a marathon that filled the void of not playing footy.
Better yet, every athlete should have life balance waaaay before they suffer a stint on the sidelines.
Tags: AFL, Ben Cousins
