The pressure cooker of life is slowly grinding people down, sites like this provide people with a light relief from what we see as the burden of everyday life. Sports professionals are no different with an ever increasing demand placed upon their minds and bodies, is it any wonder then we see burn out occurring all the time.

The youth of today are targeted at a younger age than they were previously, that much pressure to perform at their age can’t be good. Even though the consequences of this we don’t always get to see, but still the pressure is there.

So, is it all about how we deal with pressure? Let’s face it, we can’t always avoid it, so rather than fear it, let’s embrace the pressure, it can be a force to use positively in whatever walks of life we are from.

I once attended a stress management course that helped me to deal with the pressures my job brings, the course leader was a man called Jack Black, no not the singer/songwriter/actor/director/producer/voice-over on games man, but a silver fox, someone that taught me to once again use my imagination. He talked about how you must close your eyes, slow down your breathing and imagine there is a house on hill, and in this house there are a number of rooms. Each room serves a purpose, you have an imaginary shower to cleanse your body and mind, you have a meeting room to talk to whoever you want, about whatever you want and so on… When you open your eyes again you feel 100 times better. Well it worked for me… I digress…
With great power comes great responsibility, to coin a famous movie phrase, so with all this responsibility comes an even greater pressure. We all demand the best from our teams, it’s only natural to do so, but over recent years we’ve seen this turn from encouragement to abuse. Only today I hear about Craig Bellamy and Robbie Savage telling us about the pressure inflicted on them by fans and how these fans have shouted abuse and spat at them.
Is this a case of supporters’ right, or supporters wrong?

Tags: FA, football, premier league, sport