The need to address growing concern emanating from Sports betting amongst some of our young talented athletes cannot be overemphasized.Studies revealed that young talented athletes are gradually dominating the market space on sports gambling/Betting especially in the football world .This growing concern is worrisome and calls for urgent necessary step towards addressing the menace .
Sports Gambling/Betting;
This has to do with an activity of predicting sports results and placing a wager on the outcome.Sports gambling/Betting in Football involves predicting football match results ,half time scores and margin as well.Sports betting and gambling is gradually gaining prominence amongst our athletes ,a serious threat to the development of sports.Some have described gambling /Betting is sports as a tsunami threatening the sports world.This is because of the fact that this risky behaviour apart from the fact that it weakens athletes emotionally and mentally ,helps in compromising the integrity of any sports competitions which takes the image of sports to disrepute.
Vulnerability Uncovered.
According to a study published by E.U Athletes in 2016.Professional Athletes are many times more likely to develop a gambling /Betting Addiction than non athletes .because they operate often in environments where isolation is frequent ,largely due intensive training programmes as well as frequent travels and in such a manner ,gambling/Betting can appear as a form of escape or entertainment.Another factor to vulnerability is less attention to athletes welfare system ,compromises by club owners and administrators leading to ill treatment of athletes ,social media and other digital networks who helped to expose the presence and high connectivity in sports gambling and Betting through the advertisement of sports betting which tends to normalize the practice and thereby making it strongly accessible to the athletes.
Consequences of Sports Gambling/ Betting
The Consequences are enormous .Athletes are affected ,sports teams and the owner of the club as well as sports/football federations are affected hence it is regarded as ill wind that blows nobody any good.For the athletes ,he can suffer severe mental health conditions if the gambling /betting prediction did not go his way and as a result ,impart negatively on his general well being and performance in the team .Club or team owners bear the brunt as his club or team battles non performance with threat of relegations and failures.And for the sports federations ,the image and reputation of the sports are brought to disrepute.Additionally ,the standard of game involved will start dropping thereby reducing the ratings which affects the economic and sponsorship values .
Causes of Sports Gambling /Betting By Athletes.
Studies conducted on this shows that most athletes become vulnerable in camps due to peer pressures due to low self esteem ,quest to be famous and to get rich quick ,sports management lapses and Gaps ,External pressures on the athletes in meeting up with expectations .This came come from family members ,friends and relatives amongst others.Lack of enhanced welfare package for athletes amongst other factors .
Why Mental Health Education /Interface For Athletes Is Necessary
Mental health is a state of mental wellbeing which enables one to cope with the stress of life ,work and be able to remain productive as well as contributing to the community ,family and his organization .This generally means that an athlete who can no longer cope will find it difficult to live productively as his sports performances will start to dwindle .A lot of factors may contribute to mental health conditions of an athletes who is adjudged to have been groomed technically and tactically .An athlete might be having issues affecting his mental and emotional strength arising from poor welfare ,poor management of athletes ,External pressures from family ,friends and loved ones amongst others.These and more can make the athletes vulnerable and can present him with the intention to make ends meet which will be gotten in Sports gambling and Betting even with his team or club .On this note ,the need to secure the services of a trained and certified psychotherapist /Mental health practitioners becomes obvious for a well structured and result oriented psychosocial engagement and support to keep the issues on check through behaviour modifications .
Mental health Implications Of Sports Gambling /Betting On Athletes
Sports Athletes are made more vulnerable as he gets on board into the business of gambling and betting .Sometimes he suffers loss and sometimes he wins in his gambling/Betting.The time of loss presents him to the point of vulnerability because he wont like to stay without money and he needed to live and to play next game .This however takes him straight to the searching of alternatives which usually takes them to act that motivates offending (Criminal Behaviour) in the Camp,Selling of Confidential information in terms of physical conditions of team mates ,team strategies,strength and weaknesses to opponent and cashed out to live and to do his betting and meet up with other financial needs.
The conditions presented by lacks and failures to win coupled with other emotional and mental struggles arising from yelling and treatment he receives might trigger low self esteem,Stress,Burnout,Anxiety,Worry and eventually might throw him into depression because of unmet expectations .These behaviours affects brain functions and can trigger neurocognitive decline of the said athletes and his overall performances.
What we can Do
The need to be intentional by sports administrators ,managers ,sports federations in club owners at ensuring that all clubs or sports formations ,units ,clubs and camps that have athletes in place must have the services of a certified and trained mental practitioner or a psychotherapist who ensures that athletes behaviors are constantly monitored and professionally engaged by offering relevant support system for his general well being thus enhancing his productivity and preventing navigation into the negative pathways of gambling ,betting and other related anti social behaviours that may be seen amongst athletes .This approach no doubt,wil address vulnerabilities and help to hold managers accountable and responsive to the plight of the athletes.
Another important aspect is Gambling or betting industry or operators should be made to avoid normalizing gambling and betting by limiting advertisements targeting young athletes.Time for stakeholders to come together towards addressing the concern caused by gambling and betting by athletes is now as many clubs ,teams have suffered huge untold losses as there athletes keep betting with their clubs ,teams thereby compromising the integrity of sports as a whole .
The writer Coach Ebere Amaraizu is a graduate of National Institute For Sports (N.I.S) and a trained and Certified Cognitive Behaviour Therapy(CBT) Coach. He is also an international olympic committee/Nigeria Olympic Committee Sports Administrator and Manager and serving as the lead consultant at Cope and Live Mental Health Awareness Foundation.
