This Friday morning our latest Sport for Business Webinar will look at the lessons which can be learned from how professional rugby players returned to work over the summer against the backdrop of Covid-19.
It is something we are all facing at different paces and in different circumstances and the discussion promises to be one that will be enlightening from both a personal and a professional perspective.
From the rugby and sport perspective, we have seen the positive tests and the isolation, the postponed matches and the way that reactions were dealt with.
Elite sport lives in a bubble of permanent interest, more so than any other workplace but the basics of human reaction are the same.
No-blame
This is supposed to be a no-blame virus but look around and that is not the case. There may as little sympathy for celebrating teams as there would be for gun-toting midwestern Americans demanding the bars stay open. But what of the school child that is subjected to online bullying because she tested positive and ‘put others at risk’.
What do we think of the pictures of students rowing boats on the floor of a common room with very little social distancing. How do we deal with the accusation that ‘they don’t care.’
We are told to treat ourselves and everyone else as being infected and do our best to avoid human contact.
That goes against the basic concept of what it is to be human so how are we going to deal with it in the longer term as we emerge back into more regular contact?
Fascinating Questions
Fascinating questions for anyone in coaching, sporting, workplace or education settings and we will hear some of the answers at least from Tackle Your Feelings Campaign manager Dr Hannah McCormack, Rugby Players Ireland Player Development Manager Dr Deirdre Lyons and Consultant Psychologist Dr Damien Lowry.
The event will take place on the eve of World Mental Health Day and will be of interest to:
- anyone in a business setting looking at a return to their more traditional place of work
- anyone in a coaching set up looking to understand best how to establish ways of helping people with their mental wellbeing
- anyone who has seen the impact of mental health issues and wants to understand better what we can all do to help those in need.
We will run from 10 am for 55 minutes and look forward to welcoming you as a member of the Sport for Business community or as someone yet to join us but who has an interest in the transfer of knowledge between sport and business.
