Former India captain MS Dhoni thinks that there should be a mental conditioning coach across all sports in India. He in an interactive session pointed out how Indian players continue to deal with the mental issue and people need to accept the reality.
Dhoni on mental health
Dhoni spoke on the trending topic during a session conducted by MFORE, a non-profit initiative that offers Mind Conditioning Programs for the performers. The program was launched for Indian players by Subramaniam Badrinath. The need for mental conditioning coach in all sports has been the talk to the now for quite a sometime now. Cricket is no exception. There have been superstars in this circuit who have dealt with the issue. Dhoni pointed out how an expert specialising in this area might be helpful in the long run.
He explained that the mental conditioning coach needs to stay with the player constantly to understand the issues properly. “Mental conditioning coach should not be the one who comes for 15 days, because when you come for 15 days you are only sharing the experience. If the mental conditioning coach is constantly with the player, he can understand what are the areas which are affecting his sport.”
Problem in India
Dhoni went on to mention about external issues Indians face in this case. He clearly opined that acceptability is a big problem in India. The Ranchi born thinks that in any sport the relationship between a player and coach is very important to address such issues.
“In India, I feel there is still a big issue of accepting that there is some weakness when it comes to the mental aspects, but we generally term it as mental illness. Nobody really says that, when I go to bat, the first 5 to 10 deliveries my heart rate is elevated, I feel the pressure, I feel a bit scared because that’s how everybody feels – how to cope with that? This is a small problem but a lot of times we hesitate to say it to a coach and that’s why the relationship between a player and coach is very important be it any sport.”
