Goal

As the women’s football World Cup starts today, this summer of sport is well underway. And linking sport with wellbeing, the other day I discovered the On Course Foundation, which gathers together former military personnel to play golf. Some may have physical injury or disability, some have mental health issues such as post-traumatic stress disorder. Playing golf together, they have an opportunity to enjoy sport and a feeling of community, to share and support.

Have you heard of CHIME? It’s a framework overseen by The Recovery College, an NHS mental health initiative, which sets out 5 important factors in wellbeing. They are connectedness, hope, identity, meaning and empowerment. Thinking about sport and fitness, they fit all five.

Sport unites, and builds connections. Playing in a team together, or running in a group event like the phenomenon that is Park Run, people can feel part of a community with a common aim. Watching sport too is about connecting. Many sports fans watch together and enjoy the crowd experience.

Sport is built on hope: of winning, of a personal best, of getting fitter, of seeing your team triumph. Hope comes on all different levels, and spurs people on to go on trying.

Sport is an important part of people’s identity. Supporting a team makes fans feel part of a group or family, through the highs and lows, and it becomes a major part of who they are. So does playing sport, or exercising.

Sport gives meaning to everyday life and routines. Training, dreaming, working towards an aim can help bear the humdrum.

Sport is empowering because it can be satisfying, boosting confidence and self-belief, setting challenges and seeing them through. This is equally true whether you try armchair aerobics or run ultramarathons. The challenge is personal and specific to you. Confidence is so integral to wellbeing .

The CHIME factors all feed each other and are interconnected. One way I believe sport and fitness help wellbeing is by encouraging people to spend time outdoors, in the fresh air, in the elements of sun and wind, being in green spaces. That can create meaning, and is a form of connectedness – connecting with nature. Another major benefit has to be focusing the mind. Playing a game or exercising requires real concentration, being in the flow, so that overthinking falls away for a time. This could create empowerment or meaning.

Sport and exercise are also a fantastic wider stimulus. I enjoy drawing and painting sportspeople in action. I like the challenge of recreating with paper and pen the feeling of movement as a sportsperson turns or kicks or leaps. This too is empowering and connecting from afar.

It would be great if you have thoughts to share. Just go to Medley’s Facebook group https://www.facebook.com/groups/359291215486002 Thank you.