Mental Fitness - Ahead of the Game | Seaton Valley Federation

On Thursday 27 January, Amy Hardcastle and Johnny Lawless from the Ahead of the Game campaign visited ACHS to deliver a day of workshops about mental fitness.

Ahead of the Game is a campaign funded by Movember in conjunction with the Rugby League Cares charity – a legacy of the Rugby League World Cup 2021. It is designed to educate young people about the importance of looking after their mental health, the signs and symptoms to look out for both in themselves and their friends through ‘Help a Mate Out’.

Amy Hardcastle is a professional rugby league player. Amy has 19 caps with the England Women’s Rugby League team and is pushing for 20! Amy has played for St Helen’s in the Women’s Super League since 2021 and was part of the squad when they became the NRL Women’s Team of the Decade.

Johnny Lawless is an ex-professional rugby league player who played for Halifax, Sheffield and Wigan Warriors. Jonny has 2 caps with England.

During the day students enjoyed workshops with Amy and Johnny where they learned that no matter who we are, we all have mental health just as we all have physical health. In the same way you would seek help for a physical health problem, it is equally important to seek help for a mental health problem. In other words, our mental fitness is just as important as our physical fitness.

Top professional sports people who have experienced mental health problems were highlighted including rugby league player Stevie Ward, tennis player Serena Williams, boxer Tyson Fury, swimmer and Olympic gold medallist Rebecca Adlington, and tennis player Andy Murray to name but a few.

Students learned about the importance of recovering with help both their physical and mental fitness looking at aspects that indicate physical fitness including fitness, strength, and agility, alongside aspects that indicate mental fitness such as alertness, concentration and wellbeing.

Examples of mental fitness problems including anxiety and depression were explored emphasising the need to get help early if you or a friend is showing signs of struggling. Examples of causes such as social media bullying, falling out with a friend and a family bereavement were discussed and how these causes can affect things like sleep and self-esteem which in turn affect our mental fitness. Johnny and Amy talked about how mental fitness is fluid and can change quickly, how life can throw up lots of problems that affect our mental fitness, how we are feeling and how we behave.

Johnny and Amy explained that everyone gets anxiety and fight, flight, freeze modes are our natural responses to danger; anxiety is a natural thing that we are all born with and we can’t escape it. Symptoms are feeling on edge, increased heart rate, feeling sick, losing or gaining weight; it can cause you to worry, lose sleep and have a lack of concentration. It is very important to know when feeling anxious becomes too much, and to seek help.

The students then learned that depression is low mood that lasts for weeks or months and is diagnosed by a medical professional with symptoms including low energy, low self-esteem, difficulty concentrating, irritation, feeling down or sad and a change in weight or appetite and sleep. Thoughts might include self-harm or suicide. It’s vitally important if you or a friend show signs of depression that you tell a trusted adult. It’s also vital this type of situation is not made fun of, minimised or mocked in any way. Using a workshop listening activity Jonny described the importance of active listening and how as a friend, to always try to be an active listener by using ALEC - Ask. Listen. Encourage. Check in.

Remember to ‘Help a Mate Out’.

Rugby League Cares visit this website for more information about the work of this charity.

YOUNGMINDS is the UK’s leading charity fighting for children and young people’s mental health offering help and support to young people and their parents/ carers.