Do competitive team athletes differ from the norm in terms of compassion and self-compassion?
Introduction:
A growing body of evidence is revealing that athletes in competitive environments struggle with mental health challenges and mental illness at the same or a higher rate as the general population. People playing sport at the highest level can often be an environment where mistakes are often punished as they jeopardize the potential to win, and some players and coaches may prioritize winning over learning. Being compassionate with oneself and others (accepting that mistakes are a necessary part of learning your craft) is a well-established protective factor to overcome inevitable encounters of sport-related setbacks like making a mistake in the game. However, those who are more compassionate are often stigmatized as having a weak mindset and too ‘soft’. Therefore, our study aimed to examine the levels of compassion and self-compassion of high-level adolescent football players in a professional German academy.
Methods:
Players were provided with a questionnaire (Compassion Motivation and Action Scales) that measures the intention, desire and action taken to be compassionate. Our study reports that compassion and self-compassion levels did not change throughout the academy age groups from about 12-22 years old. This is problematic as the pressure to perform increases with age, meaning the athletes who are approaching young adulthood are not displaying the skill to be more compassionate with themselves or their teammates, and as athletes get older, the pressure to perform increases.
Conclusion:
Our study warrants further investigations into solutions to help shift the culture of high-performing athletes towards more caring behaviours and environments. The current study’s findings advocate for clubs to educate players about how being more compassionate towards others and themselves can act as a buffer against the negative effects that they will likely experience in their sporting environment, and to embrace rather than refrain from helping themselves or others. Furthermore, this study promotes that such education to be conducted in young athletes to prepare these adolescents with a coping mechanism to handle the forthcoming stressors associated with high-performance environments.
PARTNER
TSG ResearchLab gGmbH
The Center For Compassion and Altruism Research and Education, Stanford University
THEME
Compassion in team sports
YEAR
2022
