“Life, sport, stress, suicide, and success!”

Dec 04, 2011 Sports

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By Colin E.H. Croft

Some Trinbagonians shook off stresses of the curfew’s removal weeks ago with strong liquids, only to be contending now with an assassination plot against the Prime Minister.  Guyana is sighing with relief after general elections, but things still remain the same, even if the Executive President is changed.
The last few weeks, though, have been fairly tragic, with two highly publicized suicides by well-known sports personalities, and continued killings in Caribbean countries.  What is going on here?

Firstly, let us be very positive, enjoying their success, by saluting West Indies Ladies Cricket Team.  They beat all opponents in winning November’s ICC Women’s 50-over World Cup Qualifier competition, in Bangladesh, thus qualifying for the real deal, in Asia 2013.  Great show, you wonderful women!
‘Player of Final’, v Pakistan, was Trinidad & Tobago’s off-spinner, Anisa Mohammed, who got an incredible, record-breaking 7-14, as West Indies restricted Pakistan to 120, after a very credible 250.
‘Player of Tournament’ was Jamaican Stephanie Taylor, who continued her batting dominance, and bowling input, too, with tournament aggregate 325 runs; 81.25 average; 10 wickets too.
Last year, before ICC T-20 CWC 2010, in the Caribbean, when I interviewed West Indies Ladies’ captain, Merissa Aguilliera, who, as I mentioned then, is still, most definitely, the most beautiful sports captain anywhere, she reiterated two things that have actually come to pass, and have hit home too.
One comment was direct and pertinent, the other a part of professional sports that we, even people like me, who have done it, do not fully understand.  Firstly, Merissa did promise that West Indies Ladies would show progress not only in that competition, but would make West Indians proud in the future.
While she and her gifted girls have certainly kept their word there, progressing very well on the field, the other suggestion from the WI Ladies’ captain, that “it is very difficult  be away from home and the loved ones so often,” may have been demonstrated, in a strange, sinister way, with two recent sport suicides.
Everyone have heard of recent suicides of former 1st class cricketer, turned cricket writer, Peter Roebuck, who, with Joel Garner, Sir Vivian Richards and Sir Ian Botham, played for Somerset CCC, while I was playing for Lancashire CCC, in Test & County Championships Board (TCCB), now England & Wales Cricket Board (ECB), tournaments.  I knew Peter well and exchanged many a friendly word with him.
Also, Gary Speed, who played football for Leeds, Everton, Newcastle, Bolton, Sheffield United, and of course, his native Wales, one of the most revered players, and budding managers, around, in English football, hung himself last week.  No-one knows what drives people like these to take their own lives!
While I have never met Gary Speed, he certainly was one of the English Premier League footballers that I had always admired, especially when he played for Leeds in the early 1990’s.  He was graceful, talented, and always running to games’ end, as fit as a fiddle, very reminiscent of Argentina’s Osvaldo Ardilles.
Roebuck always had questions marks about his sexuality, and reports suggested that he was fearful of detention by South African police, as he had been accused of an alleged sexual assault by a Zimbabwean man.  What happened immediately after that cannot be fully explained, not even by eye-witnesses!
Speed was on the up-and-up, a real blue-eyed boy.  A perfect gentleman, with a gorgeous family – wife and two boys – he seemingly had it all to live for.  He had just started being Wales’ manager, and had been awarded MBE in Queen Elizabeth II’s 2010 Birthday Honours.  What could have triggered this?
I do not profess to know psychology, psychiatry, even sociology.  I do know that stress kills.  Depression is a form of psychological forum far outside my purview, but, like most, I have suffered from it too in the past.  Fortunately, at least for me and two off-springs, I am still here, hanging in, very positively indeed.
I also do know, from very personal experiences, that the kind of stress that sportspersons have is tremendous, sometimes almost overwhelming, certainly unfathomed by anyone.  However, I still cannot empathize that they have any more stress than, say, an astronaut, airline pilot, or deep sea diver!
When I started playing international cricket, in the mid-1970’s, there were no such things as Twitter of Face-book.
Indeed, even normal international telephone calls were very difficult things to complete then.  We all persevered, hoped for the best, and lived through the extreme pressures and stresses. I even remember telling Sylvia, my mother, when she queried my lack of communications on my 1st tour – Australia in 1978 – that she knew I was alive.  She was hearing my name every day on commentary.  To this day, I can find no reason why I should have interrupted my focus on tour!  Hard man I am.  I know!
We all handle stresses in much different ways, with no two people accepting them similarly.  Some might even have come close to suicide, who knows.  Yet, this one life that we have is ultra, extremely precious.  The key would be to know the psyche, or even the key itself, that triggers such behavior.
One thing is certain.  Very few of us, and this is where Merissa Aguilliera is correct, understand the real stresses of playing international representative sport, especially on tours, for months, away from home.
West Indian teams represent seven million people.  Can you understand and appreciate the stresses you would have if you were representing India, whose population is one billion?
In the past, houses were burnt down and players’ relatives attacked when India lost.  That kind of stress is indescribable!
Sports are based on one word – success.  No-one plays to lose, I hope.  No-one wants to lose, but lose, someone, or some team, must.  I have seen grown men cry, totally distraught, at losing cricket games.
I would be lying if I suggested that I knew what a present-day sportsperson, be it cricketer or footballer, or an Olympian, goes through for, firstly, the preparation, then not being able to actually win.  We are not there yet, but can you imagine the expectations in Brazil, for the FIFA World Cup 2014?
The lure of career-changing finances, the adulation, the recognition, all point to one absolute fact.  The pressures to perform, to be at the very top of the heap, will always provide situations where some will fail, while most persist, persevere and exist, if not indeed survive, and be successful.  It is not easy at all!
Sports Psychology and its cousin, Sociology, have taken on almost ubiquitous presences in professional activities and forums.
Teachers probably know best about these things, as they encounter them, daily, with their students.
Perhaps we should employ the better teachers to help sportspersons!  Good idea!
Many of us older, former international sportspeople should be extremely thankful that we have managed to survive for this length of time, especially in the Caribbean, where the gilt only lasts as long as they games themselves.  How many people care what happens to the older sportspeople afterwards?
It has been a tough few past weeks, rocking the sports world, even with so many successes too!  Enjoy!

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