Sport: an athletes’ sense of identity, source of self-esteem, and way of dealing with stress
It is very accurate that injuries affect athletes’ everyday lives to a greater extent. As such, injured athletes find it difficult to cope with sustaining injuries. Sports injuries generally traumatize and alter athletes’ psychological state of mind. Most players hold their involvement in sports activity as their identity; when one cannot appear in the pitch due to injuries, they have lost their identities. The condition worsens when athletes register significant damages, which could keep them out of the pitch for seasons. Athletes’ injuries also threaten their self-esteem. They become over-dependent on teammates, coaches, medical doctors, and therapists.
The condition is traumatizing because most athletes are built on self-dependency. Another significant effect of injuries on individual athletes is stress. The stress comes as a result of sad realities hitting the players while sustaining their injuries. For example, they often think a lot concerning their future life and career in case of significant damages such as a skull or bone breakage (Esmaeili et al., 2018). Therefore, team members, coaches, and supporters should cooperate in taking care of the injured players to aid their full recovery.
Coping strategies used effectively in the past
Although the article presents a bunch of injury coping strategies, individual players find other coping strategies easier to apply than others. As such, different players employ different coping strategies during their healing process. As for me, I would prefer to keep a positive attitude, embracing the virtue of patience and taking an active part in my healing. In the recent past, I was involved in a knock while on the pitch, and the diagnose proved that I had a dislocated ankle. I could not believe the sad reality that I was to stay outside the pitch for some time.
Therefore, I accepted my condition and applied coping strategies to aid my healing process. I kept a positive attitude that sooner, I would be back in the field to play for my team and country. As it has been proved, a negative mind and thoughts slow the healing process. Another strategy that helped me recover fully was my patience. Time is a critical factor to full recovery. Thus, I understood that there was no need to rush myself back into the squad before my body was fit for the field. Lastly, I appreciated the importance of taking part in active healing. I was attentive to the advice and commands from my doctor and health pundits in adhering to their cautions.
Coping strategies used ineffectively in the past
Even though I recovered after some months, my healing process would have been faster if I could have incorporated some vital injury coping strategies that I had neglected. These were practicing and working out, seeking support from teammates and team officials, and reaching out to counselors. Actively participate in your teammate’s activities, such as watching and practicing when you can rehearse one’s mind and keep neuromuscular connections activated.
Keeping tabs with the teammates also make you happy, which quickens the rate of healing. Another important coping strategy that I missed during my recovery period was my team members and officials; as such, I was lonely and sad and therefore slowed healing. Lastly, I also believed that my healing process could have been a little faster if I had pursued further advice from the team counselors when my injury worsened. Seeking advice in time of trouble is considered a sign of strength and could have helped manage the inherent stresses, leading to quicker recovery.
Reference
Esmaeili, A., Hopkins, W. G., Stewart, A. M., Elias, G. P., Lazarus, B. H., & Aughey, R. J. (2018). The individual and combined effects of multiple factors on the risk of soft tissue non-contact injuries in elite team sport athletes. Frontiers in physiology, 9, 1280.