A critical essay is a piece of writing that seeks to analyze, interpret or evaluate a particular text or other forms of media (Koons 2018). The welfare of players is regarded key especially the mental health (McDermott 2015). Various studies have revealed that the welfare of players especially athletes, has a direct and significant influence on their performance in the respective fields. However, in the recent past, player welfare has not been addressed with the utmost importance it deserves. Therefore, as the thesis statement would suggest; we have seen many current and ex-athletes who battle mental health problems and addiction during and after their careers. What needs to be done to ensure player welfare?
The neglecting of player welfare, both physical and mental has contributed significantly to the increasing number of current and ex-athletes experiencing mental health problems and addiction. Considering the much effort the athletes put in training especially time, it is evident that they are in need of support. Sometimes, these athletes experience hardships in their training hence a possible cause of distress (Kornspan 2009). They tend to develop suicidal thoughts in extreme cases. This happens when things seem too hard and painful. Such instances have been commonly reported when the athletes go through unanticipated defeats in tournaments they have always desired to win or register better results. Some of them develop the feeling that life is no longer worth living out of disappointments. During such moments, the athletes become vulnerable to addictions especially that of alcohol and other drugs. Majority of them choose to go for addiction, not necessarily because it is the only option they have. They tend to feel abandoned in the middle of such a crisis in their career. Therefore, I am convinced that there is the need to fully engage the athletes in all key aspects which influence their lifestyles and more importantly, their performance in an effort to alleviate their suffering in terms of addiction and mental health complications. Organizations that advocate for the welfare of athletes should be empowered through sufficient allocation of resources that would enable the organizations to provide support services (Skinner, Edwards and Corbett 2014). The main objective should be targeting those athletes already in addiction and experiencing mental health problems. A presume that clear framework of identifying, reporting and assisting such cases should be formulated by incorporating all the key stakeholders in the athletic sport. There is also the need to have a proper link between these player welfare organizations and rehabilitation centers to assist those athletes already in addiction to enable them to grow their career. I tend to believe through offering them the necessary welfare assistance, the athletes will not only be mentally safe but also physically safe. According to them, proper welfare will help the athletes to overcome suicidal thoughts that are associated with mental illness hence stay safe.
In many instances, drug abuse among athletes population involves doping. This is defined as the use of drugs with an objective of inhibiting or enhancing the performance of sporting especially in athletics. They result in doping in order to gain a competitive advantage over their competitors in various sporting activities. However, it may also involve the utilization of substances such as marijuana or alcohol without the intent of enhancing performance, since the athlete could possibly develop disorders of substance use just like any nonathletic may. In the recent past, doping has become an essential topic in almost every sport. It has been discovered in every level of competition in athletes of all ages. Many of the athletes result in substance use owing to the need for coping with numerous stressors which include physical pain, injuries, and retirement from a life of sport. It is also evident that athletes may be apparently less likely to get medical treatment for underlying illnesses associated with mental health like depression. Is saddening that athletes are able to access comprehensive rehabilitation and treatment for physical injuries, yet for the cases of mental illness, this happens less often because sometimes they view the mental illness as a sign of weakness in their careers. It is very unfortunate that some sports federations have been colluding with the athletes to enhance their performance through substance use at the expense of the athlete’s health welfare. Such athletics associations should be identified and subjected to scrutiny and if found culpable, disciplinary measures should be taken against them. This would ensure that the rights and welfare of athletes are upheld. I feel that treatment of the affected athletes should include psychiatric support and counseling. One method that could be used to address the problem of addiction among the athletes is through prevention. The adoption of drug screening is useful in deterring athletes from drug abuse and punishing them if found to have doped (Henne 2015). Opportunities for rehabilitation could also be offered to those athletes found to have been using a substance. On the other hand, there are some clinicians who feel that out of the various strategies for drug abuse prevention among the athletes is regular, very closely observed, accurate and randomized urine tests for substance use. However, I feel that this method may not work out as effectively as the majority of clinicians would suggest. This is because it appears to target the behavior of doping as opposed to the attitudes of the athletes. The main focus of every athlete is his/ her performance hence perceiving doping as a rational behavior in many instances. Doping tends to castigate the efforts of improving the welfare of athletes. It calls for joint efforts from the athletics associations, government and other parties of goodwill with the objective of conducting frequent and comprehensive didactic education (Grupe, Kurz and Teipel 2012). Such an exercise would provide the opportunity to create awareness among the athletes on the potential dangers associated with substance use. I believe that such preventive measures would eventually dissuade the current athletes experiencing mental health complications and addictions from continued use of the substance. There is also the need to engage in research in an effort to look for the most viable ways of improving the welfare of players considering that their needs have a direct influence on their performance (Baker, et al. 2017). The research should be able to provide guidelines on the best approaches to use in treating athletes who are battling with addiction and mental health problems. Therefore, it is important to note that the mental health of players forms a critical aspect of their welfare. For instance, the athletes should have their health care professionals hired by the athletic associations to specifically address their mental health problems. The clinical team should consist of psychiatrists and counselors. In this regard, the approaches of motivational interviewing could be useful. For the current athletes, I realized that one major cause of addiction and mental health problems is the pressure to perform that emanate from several parties such as family members, trainers, athletics associations etc. this forces the athletes to seek alternative methods of enhancing their performance other than doing it the legal and recommended way; improving on training. Therefore, there is the need to formulate the policies aimed at alleviating the vulnerability of the athletes to criticisms and pressure to perform. This could be done through a harmonized and athlete-oriented training programs that should be offered and coordinated by the athletics associations (Diaz 2014).
The other possible cause of mental health problem and addiction among the athletes is the self-treat otherwise mental illness that is untreated (Pfeiffer, Mangus and Trowbridge 2015). For instance, there are athletes who have been diagnosed with mental disorders such as bipolar disorder like Metta World Peace who was taking medication for the same. Such disorders are devastating sometimes, especially when the particular athlete lacks moral and medical support. It is a self-destructive behavior that may end up haunting an athlete the entire life. The welfare of a player in regards to financial needs and mental health is overlooked most of the time. Therefore, they are left with only one option; going for self-treatment hence suing drugs which may not be recommended as far as athletics sport is concerned. Perhaps it would be easier if such a welfare issue is perceived with the importance it deserves. There should be a designed mechanism of identifying and accommodating the athletes suffering from various mental disorders (MacIntyre, et al. 2018). For instance, the athletic associations should be issuing medical insurance covers to performing athletes, both the current and retired alike. Apart from alleviating their suffering in terms of problems related to mental health and addictions, this particular action will motivate young and upcoming athletes because their health welfare would be taken care of. However, there needs to be a comprehensive framework of providing the medical insurance covers to the athletes that ensure transparency and accountability to avoid embezzlements that would undermine service delivery to these athletes (Hoye, et al. 2015). Sometimes, they are unable to raise funds that would cater for their health care especially those battling with mental health complications because of the high cost of treatment.
The mental disorder that majority of the athletes’ experience is diagnosed a little late because of the lack of proper methodology and policies that advocate for not only early diagnosis but also for regular diagnosis. For instance, Andy Baddeley, a two-time Olympian and Britain’s top-ranked runner of 1,500m, was diagnosed with depression. In a post, Andy admits that he felt as if he had lost his identity completely. This is because he had suffered a serious injury that was long term. Just like many other athletes, Andy’s situation of mental health perhaps would have been better if an early diagnosis was carried out. It is heartbreaking that the athletes are left to suffer alone simply because the athletics association failure to step in and provide the desired form of assistance. Governments together with these athletic associations ought to implement resourceful programs aimed at carrying out regular diagnosis on the mental health of all athletes to ensure their well-being at all times.
Conclusion
Addiction and complications related to mental health of athletes are viewed as significant issues of concern which have many potential underlying causes (Cuppett and Flanagan 2017). We have seen many current and ex-athletes who are battling mental health problems and addiction during and after their careers, raising the question; what needs to be done to ensure player welfare? It has become an important issue of discussion in the recent past, especially in the media. Doping is perceived as the leading cause of these problems among the athletes, virtually in all sports across the world (Waddington and Smith 2013). They use the substance to deal with stressors and treat injuries among other reasons. This is reported to have contributed to undermined player welfare in the long run. However, there are viable measures that could be adopted to improve the welfare of athletes of all age groups. They include policy advocacy aimed at putting into perspective the needs of the athletes (Mountjoy 2015). For instance, providing medical insurance covers to all athletes and empowering the athletics associations with enough resources to address their welfare.
References
Baker, Joseph, Stephen Cobley, Jörg Schorer, and Nick Wattie. 2017. Routledge Handbook of Talent Identification and Development in Sport. Taylor & Francis.
Cuppett, Micki, and Katie Walsh Flanagan. 2017. Medical conditions in the athlete. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics.
Diaz, Linda Gazzillo. 2014. Survey of athletic injuries for exercise science. Burlington, MA: Jones & Bartlett Learning.
Grupe, Ommo, Dietrich Kurz, and Johannes Marcus Teipel. 2012. Sport in the Modern World – Chances and Problems: Papers, Results, Materials Scientific Congress Munich. Springer Science & Business Media.
Henne, Kathryn E. 2015. Testing for athlete citizenship: regulating doping and sex in the sport. New Brunswick, New Jersey: Rutgers University Press.
Hoye, Russell, Aaron C.T. Smith, Matthew Nicholson, and Bob Stewart. 2015. Sports Management: Principles and Applications. Routledge.
Koons, Melissa. 2018. Writing a Critical Essay: The Complete Introductory Guide to Writing a Critical Essay for Beginner Students. CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform.
Kornspan, Alan S. 2009. Fundamentals of sport and exercise psychology. Human Kinetics.
MacIntyre, Tadhg Eoghan, Judy Van Raalte, Britton W Brewer, Marc Jones, Deirdre O’Shea, and Paul Joseph McCarthy. 2018. Mental Health Challenges in Elite Sport: Balancing Risk with Reward. Frontiers Media SA.
McDermott, Vanessa. 2015. The War on Drugs in Sport: Moral Panics and Organizational Legitimacy. Routledge.
Mountjoy, Margo. 2015. Handbook of sports medicine and science: the female athlete. Hoboken, New Jersey: Wiley Blackwell.
Pfeiffer, Ronald P, Brent C Mangus, and Cynthia A Trowbridge. 2015. Concepts of athletic training. Burlington, MA: Jones & Bartlett Learning.
Skinner, James, Allan Edwards, and Ben Corbett. 2014. Research Methods for Sports Management. Routledge.
Waddington, Ivan, and Andy Smith. 2013. Sport, Health, and Drugs: A Critical Sociological Perspective. Routledge.
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