Proteas and mental health
Can CSA do more?
The title of this article might not the best. It is a little vague. Just looking at it, it could point to an article that explores the mental health problems that can arise from being a Proteas supporter. Supporting the Proteas is no easy job. That is probably what makes it greater, the high highs and the low lows.
But, this is not about that. This is about the players and their mental health and whether CSA could do more. When Proteas players struggle with the game or bubbles, at best, they are given time off. Is that enough? And should CSA wait for players to have problems before offering help?
“(The subject of mental health) It's worth talking about because if you are not mentally okay it's a problem,” says Kagiso Rabada.
In 2019 Sarel Erwee almost quit cricket. He was spent, mentally. He had reached a point where it felt like all the years of hard work he had put into his career was a waste. He was one phone call away from packing away his gear for good, then maybe dust it off every once in a while for a weekend game with his friends.
Countless sportspeople are familiar with this feeling. Some retire and others soldier on. Sarel Erwee is one of the few who did neither, he sought help.
The decision to start seeing a sports psychologist is one of the best decisions he has made for both himself and his cricket career. It was a life-changing decision. Cricket is now far more satisfying for him. It’s no longer just about the goal, but about the experience.
“Things away from cricket, and yes on the cricket field, have become so much more satisfying if I can use that word,” says Sarel. “I might perform badly, but I still feel satisfaction in what I do and how I do things because I know I put in 100% into it.”
Sarel Erwee also confesses to being more relaxed and having better focus. He also learnt how to compartmentalize his life better. He is now in a good place.
“I'm more focused at the now, the job I've got to do now, in the moment, when I'm going to bat or when I'm playing cricket,” he says. “But then when I go home it's life again, it's not cricket.”
Erwee is one of a few cricketers who see a sports psychologist regularly. It is not a widespread practice, and not just in cricket alone, but across numerous sports codes, as Erwee has learned from speaking with several professionals.
“I chat to a lot of people, especially sportspeople, and I feel that people are holding things inside,” says Sarel. “That's one of the things holding them back from actually showing their full potential.”
Simon Harmer is one of the few players in the current Proteas squad who sees a sports psychologist. He has been doing so for a few years now. Harmer confesses that doing so managed to unlock his full potential once he started working with William Winston, the Essex CC’s team psychologist.
Before his first season with Essex, he had never really given the idea of sports psychology much thought. What he found puzzling was that despite working on his skills, he still did not do very well, at least not to the standard that he rise to.
“I think there was an aspect of that, like the mental side, of needing to deal with certain things that probably also contributed to me not doing as well as I wanted to do,” says Simon.
He is a better player because of having access to a sports psychologist.
“Working with the sports psychologist at Essex really opened my eyes to what high-performance thinking is,” says Simon Harmer.
The option for a sports psychologist is not available to the Proteas at the moment. You have to feel that with Covid-19 and bubbles, this is an option that would have been put in place a long time ago. But not so. Players like Simon Harmer and Sarel Erwee have access to the psychologists they have been working with outside of the national side.
“If, as a collective, we decide that we want to have a sports psychologist or a psychologist, I guess that's what we will have one,” Kagiso Rabada told journalists during a press conference after the Proteas’ victory over New Zealand in the second Test at Hagley Oval. “But at the moment, I am not sure if that option has been made available.”
The Proteas are no strangers to working with sports psychologists. CSA has employed sports psychologists to work with the Proteas before, but it has never been for an extended period. South Africa’s attitude to sports psychologists has been no different to how the Proteas deal with things to do with team culture, bring in a consultant once in a while, maybe once a year, and hope that that takes care of whatever issues the team or players might have.
At best, it is all handled in an ad hoc manner. When handled in this way, it gives the impression that a psychologist is an extra that players can do without. Not really important in the grand scheme of things.
Clinton Gahwiler had a brief run in 2003, and Henning Gerick had a short stint in 2011. Both were supposed to help '“unlock” World Cup-winning performances. This is different from how countries like England and Australia approach the matter. They are not worried about the chockers tag the way CSA is.
But mental health doesn’t have quick fixes. One-time interventions do not go a long way. Sarel Erwee, who started his sessions in 2019, still sees his doctor. He says it was a hard slog for him to go from wanting to quit to feeling motivated to perform again.
“I am in the process every day, every week, every month, where I am trying to better my mental health and well-being,” he says. “It’s a big part of my life and will probably be for a long time.”
Performance will always be the cornerstone of sports psychology, but it is only a slice of what sports psychologists do in their work with athletes. They also help players manage their mental health. They help them deal with interpersonal issues, depression, anxiety and other issues that players might be going through.
"If we use performance as a general benchmark for mental health, then there is a problem because mental toughness is not mental well-being," says Dr Kirsten van Heerden, a sports psychologist.
Dr Kirsten van Heerden, a former professional swimmer who represented South Africa at the Commonwealth Games, holds a PhD in sports psychology. She works with many individual clients, from amateur athletes to Olympians. She also works with several national teams and cricket and rugby franchises.
“You have a strength and condition coach, a dietician, a physiotherapist and a doctor. Sports psychologists should be part and parcel of that. Mental health is as important for an athlete as being physically fit, it’s all health and fitness,” says van Heerden.
In 2018, NBA player Kevin Lowe painted a picture of how mental health issues can be as debilitating as physical injuries. He likened a panic attack he suffered during a game as being as bad as a sprained ankle or a broken hand.
“I think mental health is really important to manage,” Rabada told journalists. “As much as we are cricketers we also have daily lives and we also have problems in our own lives that come when they want to come. And at the same time, we have to go out and play, and at the same time, we are in these bubbles. It doesn't make it any easier.”
CSA probably needs to look at what others are approaching the matter. In 2018 the NFL made it mandatory for teams to have a sports psychologist as part of their staff. The psychologist is required to spend a minimum of eight to 12 hours a week at the team’s facilities.
“In the NBA they have now made it mandatory for all teams to have a sports psychologist, and a psychiatrist as well, that make themselves available to the players,” she says. “So, they might not work full-time within the team, but they are contracted as team psychologists or psychiatrists.”
This pre-emptive action is important. There is no need to wait for there to be a problem before facilities are put in place.
Not every player on the roster will make use of the services. Some might use the services a handful of times. Others might use them more. However, the important thing is that the service is available. As Dr van Heerden says, sometimes athletes do not see psychologists because of accessibility issues.
“I think having a sports psychologist as part of a team is critical,” van Heerden says. “What it does is it gives players access to the service. They don’t necessarily need to go and access someone outside, they are part and parcel of what you do. It can also help in destigmatising accessing sports psychologists, which I think is quite important.”
There is a saying that goes, sport is a microcosm of society. It is true for South Africa when it comes to mental health.
“I don’t think we focus on it enough in South Africa, not just in cricket, in all sports,” Erwee observed. “From what I have spoken with other sportspeople, it’s something that is lacking. And in life in general. As a man or a guy, it’s kind of laughed at if you show a bit of mental weakness or softness.”
Van Heerden stresses how vital it is for the sports psychologist working with the team to be seen as a neutral party and not an extension of the team. This goes a long way in assuaging players’ fears that some things they discuss with the psychologist will not find their way to the ears of coaches and management.
“It is important that sports psychologist is seen as neutral by the players,” she says. “Sports psychologists should not share what players share with them, but sometimes players get worried that what they say might find its way back to the coaches, especially if the psychologist is viewed as being close to the coaches.”
If employing a psychologist as a full-time member of the Proteas support staff is a bridge too far for CSA, a good first step might be them simply telling the players, ‘If you feel that you need to see a sports psychologist, we will pay for it.’ That is as good a start as any.
"What is important is for teams to encourage players to see someone, just like they encourage players to see a dietician,” says van Heerden. “Seeing a sports psychologist shouldn’t be separate.”
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