Dr Anne Drummond (University College Dublin) is an Occupational Safety and Health academic. In sharing the Irish experience of OS&H, Anne contemplated the place of safety and health within sports. She suggested that part of why we watch sport is the imbedded nature of risk. A sportsperson goes for a tackle, a dive, a shot and we want the physicality. We want the brute force of people pushing their bodies past what happens in our everyday lives. Pairing the physicality of sport with a culture of risk mitigation/aversion almost seems in conflict.
I had not considered the implications of this contrast for
coaches before. It certainly fits with the culture of coaches ‘sucking-it-up’
if they are unwell. But is there almost an implied resiliency in coaches if
they can ‘keep going’ and do not engage in help seeking/health support
behaviours? Comments about lack of sleep at the Olympics spring to mind here (multiple
coaches I have worked with almost brag about). Is being tough and being health
aware conflicting?
I then met with fellow voice consultants (and Speech-Language Pathologists) Dr Patricia Gillivan-Murphy and Jenna O’Neill. Both are amazing women, with Jenna being a fellow researcher in voice for sports coaches (review of Jenna’s paper to come in a future blog post). Our conversations was varied, but what struck me most was how passionate we all are about voice. Not remarkable of itself, but it does highlight why it may be challenging for voice consultants to engage those who rely on their voices at work in preventative vocal health activities. We ‘love’ voice, but for many, it is a means to an end.
·
For coaches, is being tough and being health aware
conflicting?
·
As voice consultants, how do we find a middle ground
between being passionate about voice and motivating others (who may not prioritise
voice) to engage in behavioural change around voice?
