Sport and resilience

A very interesting book by Boris Cyrulnik and Philippe Bouhours: "Sport and Resilience

Here are some relevant passages:

"Sport and resilience form an original and interesting couple to question. Sport is more than just a physical performance. It is, like resilience, a relational, psychological, anthropological, individual and collective matter. "

Boris Cyrulnikf defines resilience as "the ability to succeed, to live, to develop in spite of adversity" and "the resumption of a new development after a tragedy".

In other words, resilience is the resumption of development after traumatic psychological agony, described from a number of biological, psychological and social perspectives . It is seen as a dynamic process and representsa person's adaptive response to adversity, based on their own emotional and cognitive capacities.

If resilience allows an individual to regain psychological balance and social rebirth after traumatic events, what about athletes? Do they have an inherent ability to cope with life's challenges better than the general population?

It is now well established that sport is beneficial to physiological and mental health .

For example, when comparing a group of athletes to a group of non-athletes, we can observe thesignificant impact of resilience factors in athletes and an improvement in their quality of life.

But what happens to a sportsman when faced with drama and disaster?

For Boris Cyrulnik, resilience is dynamic thanks to the processes that the individual puts in place: defence, protection, recovery, balancing in the face of tensions, commitment, evaluation, meaning, self-positivity and creation. 

"The most recent studies carried out on sportsmen and women also allow for the identification of personality elements that contribute to the assessment of resilience and its underlying mechanisms. Three components are central to assessing resilience: the measure of adversity, positive coping skills and protective factors.

The coach, a resilience tutor

The role of the coach is decisive in the resilient process, whether it is an individual or team sport. The coach interacts like a balancing act, between security and dynamism, between aurority and choice.

He is a subtle blend of responsibility, confidence, passion and conviction, which does not exclude the ability to doubt. He is the representative of the parent figure.

If the latter is missing, he can make up for the lack, not only through intellectualisation of the relationship with the athlete or of the technique, but through empathy and attachment.

Hubert Rippol, in his book Le Mental des coachs, insists on the delicate balance of coaching, creating the link, the osmosis with the athlete or the team, it depends above all on the personality of the coach himself. 

Sport and health

There is a lot of scientific evidence to suggest that sport increases lifespan, particularly in terms of facilitating telomere (chromosome end) transcription, which is enhanced during exercise.

It is known that telomere shortening plays a major role in the ageing process. The essential contribution of sport in the prevention of certain diseases such as high blood pressure and diabetes.

Regular physical activity avoids a sedentary lifestyle and induces positive physiological and psychological activity that protects against stress or chronic diseases.

In a study of physical activity levels and symptoms of depression and anxiety, conducted on a cohort of 3,3908 Norwegians followed for eleven years, it was shown thatphysical activity of one to two hours per week can prevent depression .

Sport as a way of life, walking, sustained physical activity could play a role in resilience to emotional disturbances, a kind of guide to a form of happiness .

Sport is at the interface of a psychological, physical and social model in which the subject is the actor of his own health, in an individual or more global perspective with regard to the organisation of society, which benefits substantially from it.