Tennis Canada has partnered with the College of Ottawa, Personal the Podium, the Canadian Centre for Psychological Well being and Sport (CCMHS), and Recreation 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 needed to show a willingness to pay attention to those issues and take motion,” mentioned Tennis Canada CEO Gavin Ziv. “By leveraging the experience of our companions, we’ve created a technique that not solely permits our gamers to really feel heard and supported, but in addition acknowledges wellbeing as a vital piece of their efficiency journey. This technique places us on the trail to turning 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 position, Bellemare is liable for working carefully with athletes, mother and father, coaches, and employees to supply wellness and life-style help and can play a key position within the implementation of the motion plan.
The sustainable technique is predicated 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 suitable specialists for analysis and therapy.
Promote
Inside 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 have been ambassadors for the venture in 2023. An vital factor of Psychological Timeout is the Constructive Court docket Pledge, a written promise signed by these concerned in Canadian tennis that goals to create a supportive, secure and thriving setting. Psychological Timeout additionally consists of on-site activations involving high WTA and ATP tennis gamers similar to yoga and meditation, a participant rest zone and Positivity Postcards (uplifting messages hand-delivered to participant locker rooms in the course of the match).
As a part of its wider technique, Tennis Canada may even present a psychological well being content material sequence, and a Lunch n Study employees sequence that focuses on worker well-being together with matters similar 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 gives easy accessibility to important data and repair referrals.
Assist
The Assist pillar will embrace 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.
With the intention to assist the households of our athletes in a significant means, the built-in assist staff (medical, health, wellness, physio, sport science, and psychological efficiency) has designed an onboarding plan for Nationwide Tennis Centre/Regional Coaching Centre and nationwide staff 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 neighborhood, NTC gamers will probably be taking part in fundraising and volunteering tasks all year long. Gamers, mother and father, and coaches may 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 staff on the NTC has a communication system to facilitate return to play and referral to the suitable skilled for analysis and/or therapy.
“Tennis Canada needs 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 neighborhood will probably be stronger on account of this impactful work. We wish athletes, coaches, employees, and oldsters 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 enjoying an vital position within the course of by serving to to analysis and oversee every step of this novel venture. The technique will probably be rolled out to the Nationwide Tennis Centre offered by Rogers and Nationwide Groups in 2024, the broader aggressive construction in 2025, adopted by provincial golf equipment and academies by 2026.
