A new study from a group of University of British Columbia researchers takes a deep dive into the pressures professional men’s hockey players feel to stay silent despite serious personal problems.
The study, published last month in the journal Qualitative Research in Sport, Exercise and Health, involved in-depth interviews with 19 men who are current or former pro hockey players. All but one had played in the National Hockey League.
Through those interviews, lead author Katie Crawford and her team discovered despite facing issues like physical pain, mental unwellness, concussions, addictions, relationship difficulties and more, many players felt pressured to keep things to themselves and deal with problems on their own.
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5 Comments
This is so true and it needs to change. I do think it has already with what has happened with Carey Price last year
Good story Brodie is the best…………..
I think to your point the physical aspect is a primary focus largely in part because it’s an easier aspect to manage. Really good plans put into place to manage and rehab injuries, and really good people to train and adjust the in season performance issues that come up with players. It’s not easy but the blueprint is better outlined. Mental health is it’s own situation and it is so variable from person to person. This makes coming up with a game plan a very personal situation. I’m sure Covid hasn’t helped this situation at all either given how isolated players have been forced to be. One thing I hear consistently is when players are rehabbing injuries they feel incredibly isolated and disconnected from their teams. Could teams potentially do a better job creating a situation where people could be rehabbing and still be participating in most of what the team is doing? Lots to digest when it comes to mental health but the first big step is creating a legitimate environment where people feel comfortable coming to the team for help. Who really knows if that’s happening, but that is step 1 in my opinion.
this is not just in sport. this is a Men's health issue.
I agree whole heartedly with this piece. But saying hockey players are down-to-earth (humble) and are not high maintenace (again humble) does not equate to the mental health issue. Those statements show that these men play for the love of the game, without need for the glitz and glamour that other professional sports athletes seem to desire. The "silence" surrounding mental health in hockey is a snapshot of the times we now live in. The silence of mental health problems has been in every aspect of human life and human interaction and is now being dismantled to show that vulnerability is part of the experience that is life, not something to be ashamed of. To state that this is a problem with the hockey community is to dismiss this issue in whole. Hockey players, and all professional sports athletes, are just humans like you and I. They all go through the same trials and tribulations that life has to present us. We all hurt the same way, we all bleed the same way. We are all one.