Euroleague's Table Talk Addresses Mental Health
April 17, 2020
With its reach, influence and increasingly vocal athlete and industry advocates, the sport sector can not only advance mental wellness within the industry, but can also use its platform to help transform global conversations and inspire and support those who are struggling.
In the most recent instalment of Euroleague Basketball’s 'Table Talk' series presented by Siesta Documentary, our Director of Design & Facilitation, Radha Balani, moderated an engaging and productive discussion on mental health in sports - particularly relevant as mental health concerns intensify with the ongoing pandemic.
In the episode “Table Talk: Mental Health in Sports,”Radha sat down with Jayson Granger of KIROLBET Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz, former EuroLeague Champion Sofoklis Schortsanitis, Coach Aleksandar Dzikic and General Manager Maurizio Gherardini of Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul to discuss how important our mental health is in all aspects of daily life, and specifically in professional sports.
The participants open up about their own experiences and those of others around them concerning how to cope with difficulties to counter the stigma of depression, to handle change and injury and to achieve mental balance.
Alex Abrines of FC Barcelona and Josh Huestis, formerly of FC Bayern Munich, also share their experience on the topic.
"I believe that you cannot separate your physical call it 'condition' and your mental call it 'condition'," said Dzikic, who has coached three different clubs in the EuroLeague. "I saw players being physically on their peaks and mentally not on their peaks, not performing well, but I saw the opposite also."
Fenerbahce’s, Gherardini, offers part of a solution. "We cannot look at it as a weakness," he said of depression. "We need to look at it as an illness, like any other illness, any other injury."
"Mental health and physicality should be on the same page," Granger, who has dealt with a series of difficult injuries in recent seasons, shared during the discussion. "I think working with professionals before that serious injury happened to me helped me a lot and I'm right now in a situation that I'm trying to recover as fast as possible, working hard every single day and keep working also with a therapist and with the trainers."
Beyond Sport is wholeheartedly committed to leveraging sport to promote positive action on mental wellness. We’re proud to be a Founding Member of the Stay in the Game Network, a coalition of sport, health care and social change organizations collaborating on programs to change the narrative on mental health to one of hope, prevention and healing. Please join us.
If you or your organization could use Design and Facilitation support to address your current challenges, please contact us through our sister company, thinkBeyond. We'd love to help! Read more about it here.