‘Mental fitness’ in sports is important

For some time now, athletes and other sports personnel have been calling for more awareness of athletes’ mental wellness.

In an effort to help address this issue, Jamaica is doing its part by making the necessary adjustments. As such, clinical sports psychologist Dr Jason Scott Hamilton and physical therapist Pier Ann Patterson-Brown, who are members of the Jamaica Association of Sports Medicine (JASM), represented Jamaica at the International Olympic Committee (IOC) World Conference on Prevention of Injury and Illness in Sport recently.

The seventh staging of the event,which addressed both the physical and mental issues for athletes, took place in Monaco, February 29 to March 2.

Dr Hamilton reported that it was a very beneficial experience.

“We benefited from the sports medical/psychological conference by learning new strategic plans to teach the new doctors coming up in our fields to do national delivery and service for the sports medical community of Jamaica. This was an excellent IOC sports doctors conference with state-of-the-art technology and science that we can use to help our athletes and junior doctors with comprehensive valid and reliable scientific programmes that help our young athletes both physically and psychologically,” he said.

He said improving the aid provided to help athletes for their mental health is something various organisations are working on.

“The Jamaica Association of Sports Medicine, the Jamaica Olympic Association and the Jamaica Athletics Administrative Association are progressive in meeting the international standards set out by the IOC and the various governing national bodies of our athletes,” Dr Hamilton said.

“They (these organisations) are very forward thinking in realising that an athlete’s mental fitness is as important as their physical fitness.”

However, Dr Hamilton said the initiative faces a number of challenges, including how it is funded.

“The shortcomings are many because of limited resources, but what is known at all IOC events is that Jamaica is loved at the Olympics. If the private sector could see how Jamaica is loved by the world at IOC functions, they could help us implement strategic plans that will help our next generation of Olympic athletes,” he said.

But he said the lack of aid will not stop the initiative and they will come together to ensure that the athletes’ mental wellness needs are met.

“We, the members of the JASM, will provide a thorough report on what we learned from IOC conference and work towards a strategic plan to implement the proven assets of what we learned from the conference,” Dr Hamilton said.