Written by Kaz Louise Stoner
Sports, whether professional or amateur, is an essential part of each and every person’s lifestyle.
Whether observing from a television screen or being an active participant of a team or individual sport, it serves as a stress relief to many people.
With social distancing as the new norm and human to human contact advised to be avoided, an aura of uncertainty was put around the world of sports. We could no longer endure lazy sofa Sunday’s watching the football, or head down to the pub with our friends to grab a beer and support our favourite teams. Whilst a major source of entertainment was removed from us all, the impact this has had on athletes worldwide is un-ignorable.
Training and Games
During the months where sporting activities were halted, most teams or associations were found mid-league or competitive season. It was peak training season with crucial games left to be played or competed against. Although many associations continued with training from home via resources such as Zoom, the conditioning athletes have spent years working on to develop was decreased. Participants in team sports were left without a team to practice drills and techniques with and the face to face corrections a coach can offer was now eliminated.
Since returning to sport, teams have adopted measures to ensure the safety of their players. The UM Futsal team takes each member’s temperature before entering the training session, supplies sanitiser, and regulates mask use when not training/ playing, and organising random swabbing for the players. However, players are still faced with anxiety about the safety of their opposing teams.
Crowds
New regulations impose that games are now to be played behind closed doors. This means that fans are unable to support their favourite teams and offer cheers of endearment/ encouragement. Whilst a necessary evil, this can have a large impact on the performance of the athlete and team as whole. Spectators do not simply just watch. Rather, they are actively part of the experience. A research paper from Argentina using data from 1320 different games states that having fans at matches increases the likelihood of a win by 20%. With this eliminated, athletes must look within to match their fans’ enthusiasm, which is often a difficult task.
Uncertainties
With a record-breaking week of COVID-19 cases, the world of sports is once again left up in the air. Of course, as with anything, there is a risk to contact sports. However, within the media, sports have been put on a pedestal and under attack numerous times as being too dangerous at this time. A big question mark looms over the world of sports. Athletes are training and oftentimes questioning what for? Will the league really persist? Will I really be able to travel for my competition? Will I ever be able to regain the training that I lost if we keep stopping? These loaded questions are truly impacting the mental health of the athletes and subsequently affecting their performance. The Association for Applied Sport Psychology published that athletes are experiencing an emotional rollercoaster during this time due to the ever changing influxes of information, uncertainties and changes in daily routines, their health, and the health of others.
International opportunities
Whilst sports is an ever-expanding industry in Malta, opportunities are limited and it is every athlete’s dream to play or perform abroad. Many clubs and associations have provided teams with this experience in the past. However, since travel is difficult right now with Malta being on the red-list of many other countries, there is a void of this fulfillment in the careers of many. Even if competitions are planned abroad, with the current state of things, there is no guarantee these will go on as planned. Most opportunities (with two of the largest being the Tokyo Olympic Games and the Wimbledon Tennis Tournament) are cancelled or postponed. These events have been the targets and aims of some athletes’ training for years and the pandemic has caused them to miss the opportunity of a lifetime.
Livelihood
Fundamentally, for aspiring athletes, sports is not just a hobby. Sports is a passion, a lifestyle, and essentially; a career. Athletes, coaching staff, team managers, referees, and many others have been affected by the pandemic, as previously mentioned, impacting their physical and mental wellbeing. Besides this, however, it has also caused an impact on financial income. As stated by the International Society of Sports Psychology, the effect of the pandemic on the sporting world “potentially involves a loss of identity, motivation and meaning”.
