Mindfulness application in professional academy football

Abstract

Mindfulness is a state of non-judging awareness and acceptance of internal experiences. This state has been achieved through evidence-based interventions that are useful and beneficial for the enhancement of performance amongst athletes and other performers. Mindfulness has been used within clinical populations, yet it has become increasingly popular within the realm of sport. However, there has been no evidence of mindfulness being embedded into a professional football culture. As a result, the aim of this thesis, uses a range of approaches to research its impact of integrating mindfulness into an elite Category One English football academy. In particular, this programme of research sought to explore the perceived impacts of fully integrating mindfulness into an established football culture and to explore the perceived benefits of performance and well-being for those staff and players involved. Associations between mindfulness interventions and participants perceived increase in present moment awareness, an outcome that has been demonstrated in previous mindfulness literature, were especially of interest. Before any intervention took place, programmes were modified to accommodate the cultural climate of an elite football setting. This programme of research explored embedding mindfulness in a series of formats; 1. a recognised mindfulness-based programme with players, taking it from the classroom setting to their gym to application on the pitch. 2. How mindfulness was used effectively within rehabilitation for an injured player and the perceived benefits found from the player and the physiotherapist. 3. Football Academy staff’s awareness of mindfulness and their application and functional use of mindfulness within their field of the football organisation. 4. Finally, an insight into how a practitioner found embedding mindfulness into the football culture, highlighting the highs and lows of the application and integration. Consistent themes emerged from the programme of research, are the use and importance of language within this context, the effectiveness of staff and players ‘buy in’ to mindfulness application, and the desire for mindfulness to be utilised throughout the academy culture to benefit performance and well-being. Despite several challenges faced throughout this six-year programme of research, these findings suggest and highlight the value of embedding mindfulness within an established, elite football culture. This novel, innovative and pioneering work will provide a foundation for the future and the need for more longitudinal studies to highlight and demonstrate the impact mindfulness can have when being fully embedded in an elite sporting context.

Date of Award	5 Sep 2022
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	University of Winchester
Supervisor	Tim Holder (Supervisor) & Jo Batey (Supervisor)