Supporting Athlete Wellbeing During a Global Pandemic : The case of COVID-19

In January 2020, the outbreak of the Corona virus across the globe caused the World Health Organization to issue warnings of an international pandemic on a scale never before seen. The world ground to a halt within a matter of weeks. This chapter explores the reactions, feelings and reflections of the first ten weeks of lockdown in England of Josh – a Performance Lifestyle Advisor for the English Institute of Sport – and the elite swimmers he supports. Salient events from the lockdown period – such as the move to land-based training, the delay of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games and the rising of social justice movements – are theorised to explore both the practical and existential challenges that arose from home confinement. The chapter concludes with considerations of how the COVID-19 pandemic might serve as a catalyst to reconceptualise staff and athlete mental health and wellbeing in a design that surpasses prioritising performance and, instead, seeks to prioritise the person first and the athlete second.