Tennis Canada has partnered with the College of Ottawa, Personal the Podium, the Canadian Centre for Psychological Well being and Sport (CCMHS), and Sport Plan to design, implement and consider a complete long-term technique to enhance the psychological well being and wellness of Tennis Canada athletes, coaches, mother and father, and employees.
After 15 months of analysis and planning, Tennis Canada is the primary Nationwide Sport Group (NSO) to unveil an NSO-wide Psychological Well being Technique primarily based on the Nationwide Psychological Well being Technique for Excessive Efficiency Sport in Canada (launched in 2021) and can roll out the pioneering program with a focused method in 2024 and past.
“As athletes more and more share their struggles with psychological well being, we wished to show a willingness to hear to those considerations and take motion,” mentioned Tennis Canada CEO Gavin Ziv. “By leveraging the experience of our companions, now we have created a technique that not solely permits our gamers to really feel heard and supported, but additionally acknowledges wellbeing as a vital piece of their efficiency journey. This technique places us on the trail to changing into a number one voice within the psychological well being narrative in Canadian sport.”
Tennis Canada appointed Marie-Josée Bellemare as its Wellness Director in Might 2023. On this newly created function, Bellemare is liable for working carefully with athletes, mother and father, coaches, and employees to supply wellness and way of life help and can play a key function within the implementation of the motion plan.
The sustainable technique relies across the three pillars of:
Promote: selling wholesome habits and bringing consciousness to the significance of psychological well being and wellness.
Assist: implementing methods to assist the psychological well being and wellness of Tennis Canada athletes, households, coaches and employees.
Care: guaranteeing that our athletes are receiving applicable care or are referred to the best specialists for analysis and remedy.
Promote
Throughout the Promote pillar sits Tennis Canada’s game-changing Psychological Timeout initiative supported by Beneva, which launched on the 2022 Nationwide Financial institution Open in Toronto and Montreal. 2019 US Open champion Bianca Andreescu, 2022 Davis Cup winner Alexis Galarneau, and Canada’s top-ranked wheelchair participant Rob Shaw had been ambassadors for the challenge in 2023. An vital aspect of Psychological Timeout is the Optimistic Courtroom Pledge, a written promise signed by these concerned in Canadian tennis that goals to create a supportive, secure and thriving atmosphere. Psychological Timeout additionally consists of on-site activations involving prime WTA and ATP tennis gamers akin to yoga and meditation, a participant rest zone and Positivity Postcards (uplifting messages hand-delivered to participant locker rooms throughout the match).
As a part of its wider technique, Tennis Canada can even present a psychological well being content material collection, and a Lunch n Be taught employees collection that focuses on worker well-being together with matters akin to coping with stress and anxiousness to managing workflow. Tennis Canada has joined forces with its companions to supply a useful resource hub on its web site which offers easy accessibility to important data and repair referrals.
Assist
The Assist pillar will embody an envoy program involving Psychological Well being Champions. These Champions are athletes, coaches and employees who’ve undergone Psychological Well being First Help Coaching and will probably be “on the bottom” supporters and promoters of psychological well being initiatives.
So as to assist the households of our athletes in a significant means, the built-in assist group (medical, health, wellness, physio, sport science, and psychological efficiency) has designed an onboarding plan for Nationwide Tennis Centre/Regional Coaching Centre and nationwide group athletes, whereas there are plans for the creation of a mother and father’ lounge in Toronto in addition to a chosen participant house in Montreal.
As Tennis Canada strives to encourage athletes to grasp the significance of giving again to the group, NTC gamers will probably be taking part in fundraising and volunteering tasks all year long. Gamers, mother and father, and coaches can even have entry to a workshop and coaching calendar to encourage a baseline information on psychological well being and wellness.
Care
Tennis Canada has created an Athlete Help Plan to make sure and facilitate referral to psychological well being professionals in collaboration with the CCMHS. The built-in assist group on the NTC has a communication system to facilitate return to play and referral to the best skilled for analysis and/or remedy.
“Tennis Canada ought to be recommended for stepping up and establishing a sound psychological well being technique that’s grounded in science and the general Psychological Well being Technique for Excessive Efficiency Sport in Canada,” mentioned Natalie Durand-Bush, PhD, Full Professor on the College of Ottawa, Govt Director of the CCMHS. “Tennis Canada’s group will probably be stronger because of this impactful work. We wish athletes, coaches, employees, and fogeys to have the ability to handle each their psychological well being and efficiency whereas striving to achieve their targets. Tennis Canada has created an vital street map to do that.”
Mikaela Papich, a College of Ottawa PhD pupil, is taking part in an vital function within the course of by serving to to analysis and oversee every step of this novel challenge. The technique will probably be rolled out to the Nationwide Tennis Centre introduced by Rogers and Nationwide Groups in 2024, the broader aggressive construction in 2025, adopted by provincial golf equipment and academies by 2026.
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