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Cancelled Seasons and the Mental and Emotional Wellbeing of Athletes

March 19, 2020 by Robert Andrews Leave a Comment

By Robert B. Andrews MA, LMFT

The Corona Virus outbreak has sent a shock wave of anxiety and concern throughout the world of sports. Here in the United States MLB, the NBA, and the new XFL have postponed or canceled their seasons. The NCAA has cancelled March Madness. Entire seasons in gymnastics, baseball, tennis and numerous other sports have been put on hold or cancelled.

Athletes in junior high, high school and college are not going to school as we wait and see how bad this crisis gets and how long it last.

With the sudden halt of these seasons, and the lack of the structured environment that school provides, hundreds of thousands of athletes throughout the country must face a serious transition. This transition forces the athlete to face a number of key stressors and losses that could have an impact on one’s mental and emotional health and well-being.

Athletes must face and adjust to these losses:

The loss of a highly structured school and team environment.

The loss of routines and daily rituals.

The loss of identity associated with being a student/athlete.

The loss of the dreams that go with a promising season or key event.

The loss of an active lifestyle that stimulates one’s mind and body.

The loss of a highly competitive mindset in the classroom and in sport.

The loss of comradery and connection to a team.

The loss or ending of a career.

The loss of activities associated with campus life.

The loss of family centered events (games, tournaments, travel)

Uncharted Territory

Athletes don’t train for a critical event like this and the losses that come with it. The further along one is in their career the more difficult it might be to face this shut down.

Olympic hopefuls are facing the uncertainty of the Olympic games being cancelled. Years of training, conditioning, discipline, competing, mental training and overcoming injuries are now in jeopardy as the crisis at hand spreads.  Altering training schedules and gearing down mentally and emotionally, if the Olympics are delayed. will take an enormous amount of mental and emotional energy.

Professional athletes are suddenly kept away from the game they love, connection to their coaches and teammates and a highly structured lifestyle.

College basketball, tennis, gymnastics and other sports have had their seasons end and dreams and goals shattered due to the NCAA tournaments and other events being cancelled.

The careers of some college seniors have harshly and unexpectedly come to an end.

At the club level in sports like gymnastics and volleyball, State, Regional and National competitions are on hold if not cancelled.

Sudden Change in Lifestyle

Along with the sudden end to a season can come a just as sudden halt to a highly structured and intense training routine. For many, workouts and training sessions have stopped. There is research
that tells us that when an athlete who is used to a very active training regiment suddenly stops training and being active, hormones and other important chemicals in the brain and body change. These changes can have a serious impact on the brain, mental and emotional states, personality, mood and behavior.You're out

Warning Signs:

Emotional changes: Increased anxiety, frustration, sadness, grief, outburst of anger, despair, depression and hopelessness.

Personality and behavioral changes: Isolation, withdrawal, sullen or depressed. Outgoing personalities might become withdrawn and spend more time alone or in their bedrooms. Some might become quiet. Others might experience angry outburst and bouts of extreme frustration.  Others might become hyper controlling in an attempt to gain control over a situation they have absolutely no control. You might see experimentation or increased use of drugs and alcohol.

This crisis could be one of the most significant transitions an athlete might face, depending on their age, level of competition, maturity and emotional intelligence.

Providing Support

Increasing our awareness about symptoms that they might exhibit as they work their way through the losses associated with the end of their respective seasons, will help us to provide the care they need.

If you are concerned about self-quarantine and social distancing, most providers are equipped to provide technologically assisted calls or sessions on the internet. These sessions can be very effective. Just make sure that your athlete is in a quiet private area, is using a tablet or computer for a larger image on the screen, has earphones on for privacy and has a pen and paper to take notes.

We will get through this and sports will return. In the meantime, let’s give our athletes the care they need as they work their way through the mental and emotional gauntlet they face.

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Filed Under: Cancelled Seasons, Sports Shut Down and the Mental and Emotional Impact on Athletes Tagged With: Athlete transition, Athletes in Transition, Cancelled Seasons and Athlete Well Being, Corona Virus, Gymnastics, Gymnastics Performance, Sports culture

CORE Map: Support For Injury Recovery, Athletes in Transition, Retirement From Sports

April 15, 2014 by Robert Andrews Leave a Comment

All athletes face periods of transitions in their lives and in their respective sports. Moving from junior high to high school, high school to college, and college to professional sports can be difficult times for many athletes. Trying to make a higher level team, return to play after suffering a serious injury, or learning how to work with a new coaching staff or coaching style are other hurdles athletes might face during their careers.

Athletes Facing Retirement

Raj Bhavsar, 2012 OlympicsFor many retirement from sports is devastating. Many struggle because they don’t have the self-awareness, life tools, social skills, and emotional intelligence to navigate their way through these rough waters.  Gaining emotional intelligence, life skills, insight, awareness, and understanding their strengths can eliminate the suffering and despair that so many athletes face upon retirement from a sport that has been their identity for years.

CORE Map

The CORE Multidimensional Awareness Profile CORE Map is a powerful self awareness process that helps athletes gain critical insight, develop life skills, emotional intelligence, and live passionately and authentically.

The CORE Map process is an online personality profile that reveals critical information to those who strive to reach peak levels in athletic performance, team functioning, and improve coaching skills.

There's no "I" in teamCORE provides awareness and insight that impacts every area of the athletes or coaches lives.

Participants take the online profile and participate in an in depth review of the profiles findings.  A suggested ongoing integration period helps process and integrate this information over time. Ongoing and increasing self-awareness and insight help create profound growth and self-actualization.

Six months after taking the initial CORE report a Progress Report is taken that gives an indication of present status compared to initial findings taken six months earlier. For many the Progress Report is an exhilarating experience. For others it shows where there is still work to be done.

Life Changing Results

Athletes who choose to participate in this process can expect to gain insight and awareness in the following areas:DJ

  • Understanding of how participants think they are showing up in life and their respective sport.
  • Awareness of how they are really showing up in life and their respective sport.
  • How stress and pressure change their approach to life an competition in many areas.
  • How participants utilize vital mental and emotional resources.
  • Determine if they are using these resources in efficient ways.
  • Understanding of how stress, pressure, and conditioning change their personality temperament and coping strategies.
  • Understand and learning how to let go of old conditioning and step into an authentic way of being and relating in the world.
  • How to pursue passion and excellence in their lives and in their sport.
  • Find a creative channel for this passion in their present lives and sport.

Winners Into Champions

The CORE Process has helped Olympic and professional athletes, NFL All pro’s, MLB All Stars, World Champions, NCAA All Americans, National Champions, college and high school athletes, All State athletes, and coaches at all levels of competition.

Athletes who have benefited from this process are: 

  • Athletes involved in the recruiting process.
  • Athletes getting ready for college.
  • Athletes trying to transition from home life to college life.
  • Athletes leaving college sports and heading for the professional ranks.
  • Athletes coming back from serious sports related injuries.
  • Athletes retiring from sports and attempting to transition to a “main stream” life.
  • Coaches who want to achieve a higher level of success, increase their skills as a coach, and learn how to face stress and pressure and maintain their mental and emotional strength as a coach.

Maximize Your Potential 

Athletes who have taken the profile and worked to integrate and apply what they discover about themselves perform better, manage life better, achieve higher goals, learn how to manage stress and pressure better, communicate better, have better interpersonal boundaries. They show up more authentically.

For more information contact Robert B. Andrews at:

robertandrews@tinssp.com
713 522-2200
or visit  to learn more about CORE MAP

Filed Under: Sports Shut Down and the Mental and Emotional Impact on Athletes Tagged With: athletes, Athletes in Transition, coaches, CORE Map, Injury Recovery, Self Awareness, Sports Retirement, teams

Leaving Home: Athletes and Transitions

August 27, 2013 by Robert Andrews 2 Comments

Over the last few weeks I have seen quite a few athletes who are leaving for college for their freshman year.  Some are going to schools close to home here in Texas. Others are heading off to schools a long way from home in  The Midwest, New England and the West Coast.

I am grateful to have been able to spend time with these athletes before they left. We spent our time together talking about their sadness around leaving home, family, and friends, their joy about starting a new phase of their lives, and anxiety about being on their own and trying to make their college team.

There are so many transitions going on with these kids.  Their lives as sons, daughters, sisters, brothers, friends, boyfriends, girlfriends, and athletes are changing profoundly.

I decided to re-post the article that follows because this is such an important time not just for athletes leaving home, but for any athlete, their family members, and friends.  I feel that this is a very valuable and necessary topic.

The Fall Season: Transition Time For Athletes

Fall is a particularly busy time for me in my work with athletes. Football, volleyball, soccer, gymnastics, and many other sports start up and with this start up comes the stress and pressure of performing at higher levels. Athletes move up to higher levels of competition with each new season. Expectations of coaches, parents, and athletes are higher. The game moves faster, the ball is hit harder, tackles are more intense, athletes are bigger, quicker, and stronger, and required skills are more difficult to obtain.

Making these physical transitions in sports is difficult enough but when you add the mental and emotional transitions that are required it can be overwhelming for some.

Making the transition from junior high to high school, JV to varsity, high school to college, level 9 to level 10, 16 U to 18 U, or college to professional can be intense and stressful.

Increased stress and pressure from attending a new school, making new friends, balancing social life with sports, tougher academic requirements, leaving home and managing your own schedule, finances, and social life, or managing the complicated life of a professional athlete make it easy to see why so many athletes struggle during this time of transition.

ChokingThe psychological warning signs of this struggle can be increased anxiety, moodiness, irritability, poor grades, withdrawal or isolation, depression, frustration, and even experimenting with drugs or alcohol. Physical symptoms can be an inability to perform skills that they have mastered in the past, poor overall performance, trying too hard to “get it right”, trying to please coaches, parents, or scouts, “choking”, or struggling with what used to be easy and fun.

These warning signs or symptoms are cries for help. The athlete is saying “HELP! I am struggling and I don’t have the tools to make it through this difficult transition”.

Many athletes have to face the embarrassment of not performing up to the expected standards that they and others have of them. It can be humiliating to go out practice after practice, game after game and struggle. What was once fun and a source of confidence is now eroding confidence and creating self doubt.

Helping athletes prepare for these times of stress and self doubt and teaching them the life skills necessary to make a healthy transition is critical.

In addition to teaching valuable life skills, I use “the theory of the bigger box” to help athletes during these difficult times.

Remember when you or your kids were young and you had to face a transition like moving from elementary to junior high, or junior high to high school? You had left behind a very safe and familiar environment. You new your way around the classroom and campus, you knew the teachers, schedules, and required routines. You were familiar with this “box”. You knew where the top and sides of the box were, and the shape of the box. But on some level you were ready to move on to a bigger box. You were pushing up against the sides and ceiling of that box. You had grown so much that it was uncomfortable and your were ready for a bigger challenge.

The bigger challenge, moving up a grade, playing on a more talented team, moving up a level, requires leaving behind the familiar “box” and stepping into a “bigger box”. You have to deal with the overwhelm of not knowing your way around the box. You have to learn where the sides and top of the box are all over again. There will always be an initial feeling of anxiousness, overwhelm, even shock. It is normal. And as you acquire the tools and skills to make the adjustment to a bigger box things begin to calm down. Confidence is restored and performance on all levels of life returns to a high level again.

You're outLearning how to communicate effectively, set healthy boundaries, say yes when you mean yes and no when you mean no, time management, getting adequate sleep, eating well, balancing social life with school and sports requirements, and learning how to “recharge” your mental and emotional reservoir are important tools that will help make these times of transition easier.

Life will continue to hand us bigger and bigger “boxes” to transition into. Graduation, getting a first job, getting married, and having kids are all “bigger box” events. If you start learning important transitions tools early on it makes it easier to recognize, adapt, and grow in response to these challenges.

I have worked with many athletes who have gone off to college or tried to make it in professional sports and have come back home because they did not have the tools required to make these difficult transitions. Coming back is never an easy transition and many struggle profoundly. They are confused and lack direction.

Do your young athletes a favor and provide them the resources they will need to acquire the life skills to help them adjust and thrive.

It helps them learn how to avoid pain and suffering and build character and self confidence. Traits that will take them far in life and in sports.

Filed Under: Sports Shut Down and the Mental and Emotional Impact on Athletes Tagged With: Athletes in Transition, Athletic Pressure, College Athletes, leaving home and sports, stress and athletes

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Suite 180
Houston, TX 77008
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robertandrews@tinssp.com
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From Our Blog

Overcoming Mental Blocks in Sports

What Happens When A Season Disappears? Drug and Alcohol Issues And The Sports Shut Down

A Parents Guide to the Sports Shut Down

Cancelled Seasons and the Mental and Emotional Wellbeing of Athletes

Learning Styles and Effective Coaching: Empowering Your Athlete To Their Full Potential

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The Institute of Sports Performance™
2500 East T.C. Jester
Suite 180
Houston, TX 77008
Find us

713.522.2200

robertandrews@tinssp.com
kierstincollins@tinssp.com
michaelheck@tinssp.com
andreaestrada@tinssp.com
galenandrews@tinssp.com

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