“Resilience in a Crisis” Tonight Thursday, August 27, 5 PM PST (8 PM ET) Provides Strategies to Cope & Support Youth Soccer Players As The COVID-19 Pandemic Continues
The Elite Clubs National League (ECNL) is hosting a FREE Zoom seminar “Resilience in a Crisis” tonight, Thursday, August 27, 5 PM PST / 8 PM ET, which promises to recommend strategies to cope effectively and support youth soccer players during these difficult times of COVID-19.
ECNL Chief Mental Performance Advisor, Dr. Cristina Fink will be presenting strategies on how to help players deal with uncertainty, anxiety, and stress. Moderated by ECNL Boys Commissioner, Jason Kutney, this event is open to all youth sports parents, players and coaches.
Pre-registration is Required: CLICK HERE
As the days drag on since the pandemic was announced in March, America’s youth athletes have been significantly impacted by the Coronavirus COVID-19. With an unprecedented halt to youth soccer training and competitive games, America’s young citizens have had their lives disrupted without a clear pathway back to normal. While youth soccer is being played in specific areas of the USA, the are huge numbers of youth players who have experienced ever-changing safety protocols and await the return of their competitive leagues.
Read: THE BALANCING ACT written by Dr. Drew Watson
Christian Lavers, President of ECNL, has often said the Elite Clubs National League is more than a league. ECNL has over 175 youth soccer clubs, with a combined 375,000 youth players of varying ages and levels. With an extensive reach, ECNL has a strong identity and massive influence in the fractions youth soccer landscape. Living up to his commitment to use ECNL’s reach to help players and their families, Laver believes educating people to the ‘invisible risk’ of created by the COVID-19 pandemic is important.
The importance of youth sports, including their physical and mental benefits, has been clearly recognized.
Many recent studies have shown that the rates of anxiety and depression among youth athletes have significantly increased during the COVID-19 pandemic.
As we approach living yet another month with the pandemic, there are real long term impacts on teenagers from reducing their level of activity. There needs to be a balance between not spreading the Coronavirus — and risking exposure — with the well being of America’s young citizens.
During the webinar Dr. Fink will share tips and tools that she has used to help world-class athletes manage uncertainty, anxiety, and stress, including four R’s to resilience:
- Recognize: Acknowledge your emotions, understand what is causing your emotional reaction
- Regain Control: Take a time out to manage the emotions you have
- Rationalize: Restate the situation as objectively as possible using facts, not emotions
- Re-focus: Re- focus on the goal, others involved, a possible solution…
Who is ECNL’s Cristina Fink?
Cristina Fink, Ph.D., is a highly experienced performance psychologist with over 25 years of experience in teaching, counseling, and sports administration. Counseling clients include Olympic Medalists and World Champions as well as professional and national soccer teams. Fink was the Sport Psychologist for several teams in 2000, 2004, and 2008 Olympic Games. She competed in two Olympic Games (Seoul 1988 and Barcelona 1992) and held the Mexican High Jump Record with a 6’4” (1.94) jump for 22 years.
Cristina is the author of a number of published papers and books, and a keynote speaker in many national and international conferences. She is the Associate Athletic Director for Student-Athlete Welfare at Rowan University. She works with INFP (International Network of Football Psychologists) where her peer group includes sports psychologists from top professional European clubs. She is in charge of Performance Psychology for the Football Science Institute FSI.
