“One of the many outcomes of the COVID-19 pandemic was that young athletes had to become resilient.”
The following written content via Team USA
One of the many outcomes of the COVID-19 pandemic was that young athletes had to become resilient. No matter how much we may want to shield children from the harsh realities of cancelled seasons, lockdowns, and quarantines, every child experienced some kind of loss or hardship during the pandemic. But board-certified family physician and TrueSport Expert Deborah Gilboa, MD, explains that we can use these difficult moments as a learning opportunity to help our athletes become better prepared for inevitable challenges later in life.
This is a set of skills, Gilboa explains, as resilience is not simply a character trait. It can be nurtured and developed. Here, she discusses the five ways she wants coaches to approach building resilience on their team.
1. Building connections
Strong connections strengthen resilience because they diminish a person’s feelings of isolation. Fostering connections can be as simple as starting every practice with a question, whether that be a sport-specific one about the day’s practice goals or a sillier one like the last snack each person made for themselves. “Ask team leaders for ideas about icebreakers and ways to build better connections on the team,” Gilboa suggests.
“You can also have athletes divide into practice teams using things like sock color or their preferred house at Hogwarts! This way, they start to see what they have in common with each other. Then, turn it into an exercise that will improve the team dynamic: Have each person on the team ask a question to the group about something related to the sport, like how to improve a flip turn in swimming.” Asking for advice helps build strong connections between teammates and shows that even the star player on the team has things they want to improve upon.
2. Managing discomfort
“Nobody grows when they’re comfortable,” Gilboa explains. “Managing discomfort is crucial to becoming more resilient, because if you cannot handle being uncomfortable, you can’t go through the steps required to experience a change and get to your goal. You get stuck.” Read more from Team USA.
