North Melbourne has a big focus on improving the mental skills of players according to Brad Scott.
“We’ve got a very active mental skills program, both in a supportive capacity but also in a proactive sports psychology capacity,” he told the media on Thursday.
The North coach was emphatic about the importance of the program after being asked about the pressures placed on players in the wake of Collingwood’s Alex Fasolo’s battle with depression.
“It’s not something that is optional for us. We run the mental skills component of our program as part of our program and it’s not an optional thing, it’s a compulsory, normal part of the program as would skill work and gym work,” he said.
“I’m not saying we’re perfect, but there’s no doubt that sports psychology and mental skills is the next frontier in professional sport and not just from a supportive, problem solving perspective but a proactive, performance perspective.”
The education for the players extends to their use of social media.
With any tweet, snap or photo, they are broadcasting to the general public, a fact which is reinforced to them.
“We do run a fairly comprehensive program in terms of educating the guys around the use of social media and as for that matter, any form of publishing,” Scott explained.
“But the club is very, very active on social media and we try to direct a lot of our traffic through the club accounts.
“I think most of you would agree our club is very open and very proactive on that front.
“We do remind players when they’re engaging in social media, they’re publishing and the problem with instant access to social media these days is you can say things without fully thinking it through.”
For Scott, the thought process on how to conduct yourself on social media is a simple one.
“We do a lot of education and put a lot of support around our players and we certainly don’t discourage it, but we make sure they’re educated before they do use it.
“Just treat others as you would expect to be treated yourself and if you have that simple philosophy in life, a lot of these silly things won’t happen.”
