Benfica, Manchester United and Bayern Munich united for mental health

BTV REPORT

Sport Lisboa e Benfica has joined Manchester United and Bayern Munich to mark mental health month in the UK, through the program "Promoting mental health and well being in football together". 

"The overall goal is to raise awareness among players, coaches, staff, and the general population about the importance of mental health and the impact on performance and sports performance. This partnership also intends to create privileged moments of reflection among the three clubs", explained Tatiana Ferreira, coordinator of Psychology at Sport Lisboa e Benfica, in statements to BTV.

"Some studies say that players, particularly soccer players, have a higher prevalence of mental disorder compared to the non-athletic population. In this sense, Psychology and the entire structure of the Club intend to create an environment that minimizes this impact on our players ", she claimed.

In a perspective of prevention, Pedro Marques, technical director of Youth Football, stressed the importance of seeing the person before the player and the relevance of balance and recovery.

"We look at the players individually, as people, that's the starting point. We look at them in their different dimensions, which include technical, tactical, physical, personal, and social, but also mental. The mental and psychological part is the basis to have competent players capable of dealing with the demands of playing at Benfica, so we look at these dimensions in an integrated way. On a more specific issue, linked to mental health, we need to manage rest and time off, in an activity that is very demanding for many months and limits family and leisure time", stressed Pedro Marques.

"More than the connection with internationally renowned clubs, it is relevant that Benfica associates itself to this campaign and the month of mental health promotion, being one of the performance components. It is an innovative initiative, three big clubs will promote a current theme, perhaps hidden, but increasingly emerging", he finished.

Once they reach the top, the challenge is to maintain the level of quality and all the physical and mental characteristics conducive to continuity in high performance competition, as noted by professor Pedro Mil-Homens, General Director of Sport Lisboa e Benfica's Youth Development.

"Developing players to a high competitive level implies a wide range of factors. Players need to have the necessary characteristics and qualities to get there, but it's important that they can maintain. To get to that level and to maintain it, to go all the way with some degree of permanent selection, implies training and work, but also that they give up other factors, including entertainment. For them, all the attention we can give to mental health is certainly very important", highlighted Pedro Mil-Homens.

" It is also important not to forget those who do not reach these levels and have to follow their sports career at lower levels of demand. It is important to make sure that these athletes have the best mental health practices to deal with failure. So, we give full attention to the development and mental health work ", he said.

To promote the theme, and to share experiences, the Club will promote, throughout this month of March, activities such as round table sessions with directors, coaches, and psychologists from the three clubs, presentation of the book "Soul beyond the athlete", from Jonathan Harding, workshops for staff and coaches, and mindfulness sessions.