Wasting away in the limelight
The fact that playing sports professionally is stressful is a surprise for absolutely no one. Being in the limelight, weighed down with performance expectations and wishes, can impact individuals to varying degrees. Some use the explosive and overbearing nature of the stress as fuel to continue performing, others burn out. Society has never been entirely receptive or sensitive to such issues brewing in the minds of those we consider public figures. Sports is no exception to this callousness. It is this light that last year, former Australian captain Ian Chappell commented that the issue of mental health has reached "almost epidemic proportions" in Australian cricket. This came not too long after Will Pucovski, a 22-year-old batsman became the third Australian cricketer to announce an indefinite break from the sport. Glen Maxwell and Nic Maddinson had previously announced a break from the game to deal with deteriorating mental health. Chappell had noted that while it was well and good that Cricket Australia (CA) and the cricketing world at large were offering sympathies and appreciations for Pucovski coming forward with his issues, the situation would only perpetuate unless Cricket Australia tried to uncover the roots of this recurring situation. And so, even as Cricket Australia was severely downsized this year due to the impact of the pandemic, the cricketing body has put out a notice of a newly available position titled 'Mental Health and Wellbeing Lead'. Elaborating on the decision, Drew Ginn, Cricket Australia's high-performance programme chief explained that the Mental Health Lead would play a supporting position for the two sports psychologists who are already working with the Australian men and women's teams. The existence of such a dedicated position is hoped to have a significant effect in preventing the players from burning out mentally. The advertisement for the position reads that the person applying for the job must have a post-graduate qualification in psychology/psychiatry, behavioural science, or a related field and clinical practice experience, in addition to senior management and case management expertise.
CA has also decided to institute other measures which will work in tandem to address mental health. First, the cricketing body has stated that selection for the international squad will now be done with mental health being one of the criteria for making the selection. Players that are fit and in form but look like they cannot deal with the rigours of life on the road could be kept out. In addition, players coming back from mental health-related breaks will be treated the same as players coming back from an injury. These are just some of the few measures that the cricketing body is confident will help in tackling the mental health crisis in Australian cricket.
It is unknown at this point as to just how far Cricket Australia's measures to ease stress in a high-pressure work would go but it is certain that this is a start. Pucovski and others like him coming forward is a definite start. These are players in good physical conditions, in the prime of their youth and awaiting even more lucrative career opportunities and yet they choose to break away with no haste to return. The acknowledgement that mental fitness cannot be swept under the rug as an unquantifiable part of performance assessment is a real start towards having a much wider conversation about the stress of being in the limelight and how society itself creates situations of immense pressure that only serve to further aggravate already existing stress. To a certain extent, such professions and indeed, most professions, have related performance stress. We are expected to manage some part of this pressure in the course of leading an 'adult' life. And yet being 'professional' should not entail pushing mental health issues aside in the process of putting up a forced veneer of calm.
But talk of mental health problems and stress in cricket are not new or localised to any one country. Virat Kohli has been vocal about his struggles with the stress of the sport. He has mentioned England 2014 as being a particularly dark period of his career. The 2019 documentary, 'The Edge' touches on such issues as well. It touches upon familiar themes, the stress of always being on a tight schedule, the stress of being injured and/or unfit, the stress to perform as per expectations and the stress of playing the 'role' of a personality for the whole show. It seems every cricketer has a harrowing tale or two of holding back the tears and being absolutely lost in self-doubt and fear.
It is time for not just cricket boards worldwide to take note but for society at large to start asking questions. Do we hold unrealistic expectations from our public figures? Do we take mental health for granted? Is the cost of unthinking professionalism too high? Finally, can we not sympathise with each other, in things big and small?
