Consideration of Mental Health and Well-Being in High-Level Sport: When Will a Coach-Centred Approach Be Introduced?

Coverage of problems relating to mental health and well-being is gaining ground in the sports sector today, both in the media and in the scientific literature. Despite exposure to numerous stressors and suffering from poor mental health, coaches have in general been largely overlooked in the scientific literature. Previous studies have mainly focused upon athlete populations. The absence of research means that there are real shortcomings in both understanding the mechanisms involved in the deterioration of coaches' mental health and well-being and in the lack of specific support systems available. This paper first describes findings from the recent, albeit quite scarce, research investigating mental health and well-being in coaches. It then proposes a number of avenues for research and support protocols, both of which are currently ongoing at the French Football Federation Research Centre. The aim is to help support these key participants in the sports sector who arguably have not been given sufficient consideration until now.

Longitudinal relationships between mental toughness, resilience, cognitive appraisals and perceived performance in competitive soccer goalkeepers.

The purpose of this study was twofold: (1) to examine the influence of the mental toughness (MT) trait on resilience, cognitive appraisals and perceived performance states and (2) to explore dynamic relationships between these states among soccer goalkeepers during a competitive season. Thirty-six soccer goalkeepers from regional to professional levels first voluntarily completed a questionnaire measuring their mental toughness. Subsequently, a single-item approach was used to assess resilience, cognitive appraisals (threat, loss, challenge and benefit) and subjective performance every 2 weeks for 4 months. Results of multilevel analyses showed that mental toughness significantly and positively predicted resilience, which significantly and positively predicted benefit appraisal and negatively predicted threat appraisal. Moreover, subjective performance was significantly and positively predicted by benefit appraisal. Our results also revealed the mediating role of resilience in the relationship between mental toughness and appraisals (threat and benefit) as well as the mediating role of benefit appraisal in the relationship between resilience and subjective performance. Practical applications are proposed to optimize the daily experiences of goalkeepers, such as creating a supportive climate.