By Laurence Halsted, former Olympic fencer, current Performance Director at Danish Fencing, and Co-Director of The True Athlete Project's Mentoring Program. (Read Part 1 and Part 2 of Laurence's 3-Part Series) Sport in 2018 is not coming close to delivering its potential; not for the participants nor for society as a whole. From grassroots all the way up to the Olympic and elite level, there are valid concerns with how sport is organised and how athletes are trained and treated. Where sport should be an unequivocably positive force for individual physical and mental health, as well as a boon for communities and society in general, it is in fact rife with stress, anxiety, depression, burnout, bullying, discrimination, corruption...The list goes on. Sport has lost its way. It has lost the connection to its true meaning and value. Sportsmanship, fair-play and honour have been demoted in importance by a win-at-all-cost attitude. The driving force is now a cynical business-model approach where the bottom line is results, and we are quick to justify or excuse almost any means to that end. Canary In The Coal Mine: The Case Of Diving In Football |
Laurence Halsted is the co-director of The True Athlete Project's mentoring program. He was a foil fencer who won a silver medallist in the 2008 European Championships and represented Great Britain at the 2012 and 2016 Olympic Games. He is the director of performance at Danish Fencing and has written for The Guardian and The Nation on athlete activism. Read one of Laurence's latest articles here: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/aug/06/trump-lebron-james-nba-star-true-role-model |
1 Comment
12/1/2018 02:03:50 am
The energy on the past sessions doubled up on the fifth session. We can definitely see that everyone had a great time staying under the sun. Actually, they didn't care getting dark skin simply because they are enjoying all the activities that were given on that day. Well, if I was there and was able to enroll myself, I would definitely feel the same thing; not to care about my skin color because the fun is too much to miss! Next year, I will try to join with my colleagues too!
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