The PSA Foundation has launched a new health and wellness programme which brings together players to tackle the wellbeing challenges on Tour.
Professional sport presents unique pressures for athletes and the aim for this programme is the players will spearhead a Tour wide effort to share struggles, advice, experiences and support each other.
This initiative is designed to provide an ongoing process of safeguarding the health and wellbeing of players on Tour. At the PSA Foundation, we believe that there is no better people to help inform on the challenges of competing on Tour than the players themselves and the health and wellness programme is testament to that.
The programme will be formed of 11 players who will be ambassadors from different tiers of the PSA Tour. Throughout this campaign they will be sharing their stories around the challenges they have faced on Tour around their health and wellbeing and covering a wide range of topics.
Why has the Health and Wellness Programme been launched?
- To normalise conversation around health and wellness
- To mutually share health and wellness resources
- Create a climate of support
- Building a community of mutual support
- To send a clear message that squash cares about its players
With this new initiative we hope to normalise talking about the physical and mental health challenges that many players face on Tour. By sharing knowledge, experiences and signposting to support networks, we collectively look to provide a support system.
While the health and wellness Programme will be player led, the PSA Foundation will feature in the group to ensure we answer the calls for support and intervention. For both the PSA as the Players Association and the PSA Foundation as the charitable arm, it is a priority to collectively look out for the wellbeing of all players on Tour.
Our partnership with UK based charity Sporting Chance in 2020 has been a big success in supporting the mental health of the players on Tour and will feature significantly in the Health and Wellness programme moving forward.
Check out our previous story from Tom Walsh who opened up about his mental health challenges and using the services of Sporting Chance:
