In a management meeting last week, we reflected on why IFS was started. It was to create balance, especially for time-poor families with sports training commitments, yet still enable the athlete to achieve the highest level possible.
That balance can now be a reality for almost all IFS families, as our full time football development program frees up afternoons and evenings that would have previously been taken up with training.
As exciting as it sounds, that balance won’t come easily if not planned.
It’s not a dissimilar situation to that of a retired professional athlete. Removing sport/training can cause problems as they struggle to fill their free time, often overloading it with too many activities to avoid feelings of boredom, or pursuing activities that aren’t fulfilling. This sometimes leads to depression.
Research has shown that the most enjoyable moments of our life are the ones where we are most engaged. Activities/tasks/projects taken up through internal desires, not external constraints, are therefore most likely to be a good choice to fill spare time.
Watching TV, playing computer games or other sedentary pursuits may be ok in small doses, but athletes who have had regular doses of serotonin on a daily basis then suddenly decrease playing/training can risk upsetting the chemistry of the body.
The solution seems to be ‘active leisure’ – free-choice, unstructured activities that challenge and fulfill you – walking the dog, getting to the beach, playing an instrument; there’s no end to the activities you might consider. The other option is activities that come about simply as a result of having more free time. One of our management team told us about an unplanned afternoon he spent with his son recently. Directed to get on the backyard trampoline, given a lightsaber and told he was Darth Vader, he spent the next half hour bouncing around in a fearsome battle with Luke Skywalker (his son). It was one of the best afternoons he’d had in a long while.
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