Gael Clichy took up Yoga Nidra six years ago. It is a form of meditation that places a person in the consciousness between waking and sleeping.
“It helps me to block out the negative self-talk, encourage positive thoughts and helps me focus,” Clichy explains.
As a former Arsenal and Manchester City defender who spent more than a decade in the Premier League, Clichy, 35, has seen a lot in the game. He has watched extremely talented players fail because they expended too much energy worrying about what might go wrong, rather than focussing on what could go right.
“The game really took over my life!” Clichy says. “When I had my daughter I realised that life is more than football. It changed my perspective on the whole and stopped me being sad during the week, because we lost a game or because I performed badly.”
Young players will look at Clichy and see a successful player: a multi-Premier League winner, a Champions League finalist, once named the best left-back in the Premier League by his peers. Yet “like all players I had a time when I had difficult moments where my performances dipped and I began to overthink situations,” he says.
“I was lucky enough to be part of the Invincibles that went the season unbeaten, playing alongside people like Dennis Bergkamp. I learnt that football is just a game. Of course I have a duty and a responsibly to perform but that doesn’t take away from the fact that it is just a game. If you lose a game, then so what, you lose a game. Three days later you have a chance to win a game.
“I was surrounded by people like Patrick Vieira, who had nothing to prove to anybody, they resiliently played the game, whether they did good or bad they applied themselves the same way, they just played the game. I learnt from them at a young age how to manage my emotional condition.”
Voices in Willy Cabellero’s head
Not many footballers are so lucky.
Clichy shared his experiences with Kevin George, a former Charlton and West Ham player who is now a trained counsellor working across the game, as part of his book Soccology that delves into the minds of successful footballers.
It is included as part of George’s new Mental Health Guidance Plan for Professional Football (MHGP), “to improve the health of football”, that he is set to publish as a free ebook in the next few weeks.
George urges them to read it. He began writing the guide after hearing of the passing of Jeremy Wisten, the former Manchester City youth player who was found dead in October.
Frankly, George does not believe that football does enough to protect players’ mental health.
Without overwhelming the reader – be they a player, a manager, a coach, a club official, a parent, an agent, or any of the myriad roles involved with the game – George lays out simple steps to act as starting points to create a better environment for footballers. He draws on testimony and experience from managers, coaches and players, including Clichy and Chelsea’s Willy Caballero.
Five key recommendations
- “Clinical Coaches” at every club to bridge the gap between players and managers
- Teach players to develop and understand their identity beyond football
- Take active steps to help players deal with performance anxiety, insecurity and chronic stress
- Better, more honest communication with academy players
- Prepare players for life after retirement
The Argentina goalkeeper, for example, discusses the negative thoughts that would fill his mind while playing. “The voice in my head was non-stop, asking, ‘Why me? Why now? Blah, blah, blah…’ 30 minutes later a testing situation arose and I saved the ball. The voice in my head changed its tone and became more positive, telling me that this was the way to help my team and that I was good enough to do it.”
Split identities
Discussing identity, mental health, retiring from playing, coaching, social media and the role of parents, George explains that footballers form a ‘player’ identity early on, splitting from their real self, that can cause issues in later life.
“The player takes you towards the dream, brings attention, earns the money and the follows on social media,” he writes. “It’s the part of you the world sees, loves, gravitates to.”
The split identities are why players can spend years creating history together, then fall out of touch as soon as they retire. “The connection was based on the role played, not who they truly are,” he writes.
Having hobbies away from football, avoiding wearing training kit and surrounding yourself with football at home, making your social media the real you – limiting to one in three posts about football – can all help, he says.
He highlights the ways that clubs can help players deal with the performance anxiety, insecurity and chronic stress that are all part of a player’s life, through clinical support, practising mindfulness, speaking to someone you trust, keeping a diary, exploring the arts.
And he addresses preparation to become ‘the former footballer’: finding motivation to exercise, weaning off the game in your final year, trying talking therapy.
‘Clinical Coaches’ to bridge the gap
“The transition you’re making is huge,” he writes. “It’s the end of an intense relationship of chasing three points and contracts for 25-plus years. For it to come to an abrupt end can be unsettling and having a chat will support the transition.”
Then there is the growing issue of the way young players are treated in academies. Places that have, in some cases, turned into talent factories generating tens of millions in revenues but that have no qualms with casting aside teenagers, who have spent over a decade devoting their life to a club, as though they no longer matter.
George also calls for the introduction of a “Clinical Coach” at every club, that “will help managers with soft skills, support players, challenge players and management to enhance psychological understanding, facilitate professional development and create interventions.”
The MHGP will take a club official or parent five minutes to read, but it could make a footballer’s life better, or even save it.
Follow i sport on Facebook for more football news, interviews and features
More on football
- Sam Johnstone tells Sam Cunningham why he is finally ready to become a Premier League star
- The making of Timo Werner: How his father’s motivation and ‘scary’ power meant Chelsea star was always destined for the top
- Eric Dier reveals why he stormed into the stands to confront an abusive Spurs fan
- Daniel Storey: How to lose supporters and alienate Messi, by FC Barcelona
- An apology to Man Utd’s Jesse Lingard
from Football – inews.co.uk https://ift.tt/3ftMX6h
Post a Comment