10 minute read
GMA update
GMA LIVE BRINGS VIRTUAL NETWORKING TO LIFE
Luke Perry, Grounds Management Association (GMA) director of events and SALTEX, discusses how the GMA Live webinars are the ideal networking medium during the Coronavirus pandemic
Colin Hoskins Editor
The next GMA Live takes place on Tuesday June 16. Visit thegma.org.uk/news to sign up.
How is the GMA adapting to the changing circumstances created by the pandemic? Like many, we’ve moved very quickly as an organisation to adapt to a digital ‘working from home’ environment. We’re an active, outdoors industry, so I’m sure that the restrictions have been demanding for many in the sector.
What is great, however, is the interest in our online learning and our newly-launched webinars. We often get feedback that our members love attending events to network and learn with like-minded friends and colleagues. So, we acted quickly with the aim to replicate a networking and learning experience with the GMA Live webinars.
The first webinar was held on 13 May. What was the response? Hugely positive, with over 400 delegates signing up. In the current circumstances, we’ve really seen the grounds community come together, share knowledge, exchange resources and grow closer than ever. We’re really proud of that, and we’re pleased that GMA Live was exactly what the industry was looking for.
What are the next steps for GMA Live? Our first webinar coincided with our new report, ‘Back to Play: the season beyond no sport’, and this month we’re running a second GMA Live webinar also along the theme of Back to Play – this time from a business and mental health perspective. Mental Health Awareness Week was a big focus in May and we recognise that the wellbeing of employees requires close consideration in new working environments. This is all about how we adapt to that ‘new normal’.
We’ve teamed up with an expert and industry-leading panel of speakers to present all points of view across the sector. Our aim with the session is to provide grounds staff, volunteers, employers and businesses with a rounded view of how they can best support others and themselves going forward. ■
In a revealing debate about mental wellbeing at last year’s SALTEX, Wembley’s grounds manager Karl Standley opened up about how he suffered in a situation – which could happen to anyone – where he mistakenly thought the answer was to simply work longer and harder, only to arrive at thoughts of ending it all
Andy Carmichael Freelance writer
KARL STANDLEY MOVED to the Wembley National Stadium in 2006 and, in subsequent years, he had been promoted by The Football Association (FA) to a point where, in 2016, he became head groundsman and responsible for the most famous, and commented on, football pitch in the world. (He was appointed grounds manager in March 2020.) While there had always been a lot of work and pressure involved in keeping the surface at the standard expected for cup finals and international matches, what often goes unreported are the number of other events hosted on the pitch. In 2017, not only were there charity games, corporate days and concerts but also the long-standing NFL London games. Tottenham Hotspur had also taken up residence while its stadium was being redeveloped, adding more than 30 additional fixtures.
Managing this schedule to his satisfaction, and what Karl identifies as his “drive for perfection” in the surface, “simply became too much”, he says. Modern grounds management is not just about turf, it is also about project leadership across multiple, and sometimes competing, concerns. Imagine that, with the results constantly being watched and commented on by a worldwide audience of millions.
Karl (far right) says he is grateful for his teammates’ support. Left to right: Ross Souroukides, David Moulds and Brendan Abbott
Not sleeping was the first indication that something wasn’t right, but Karl ignored it. “You feel you should just get on with it,” he says. “That’s what you do, isn’t it?”
He started losing weight, something his wife Alex noticed, and became irritable at home, on the rare occasions he was there. Karl was waking and being physically sick, something he attempted but failed to hide. Pushed by Alex to visit a GP, he was diagnosed with complete exhaustion and told he was in poor mental health – despite working for incredibly supportive employers in The FA and alongside loyal colleagues in a positive atmosphere with no excessive demands placed on him. Karl had found himself in a situation where he felt the solution to his worries and own unrealistic expectations was simply to work longer and harder.
Turning a corner
It was one early rain-swept morning, driving to work, when he realised that he had reached his breaking point. He just wanted it to end.
Talking to the GP and attending therapy was the start of improving his mental health. Just as it had been a gradual decline, so it would be a measured return to good wellbeing. The FA “has been fantastic”, he says and has given him every consideration and involvement in their own efforts to make this subject more recognised and addressed. He is grateful of the importance The FA places on the mental wellbeing of its workforce, which includes an Employee Assistance Programme and a private medical scheme, run by BUPA. The organisation has also partnered with Headspace, an industry-leading online resource for mindfulness which provides tools and guidance on mediation. Externally, the organisation’s Heads Up campaign has been visible throughout the course of the season. In partnership with the Heads Together initiative (www.headstogether.org.uk), the campaign aims to harness the influence of football to generate the biggest conversation ever on mental health.
Karl is similarly appreciative of his team-mates and the support he has had from other grounds staff and those involved in the industry. The wave of positive messages he received when going public about this on social media – and after his debate at last year’s SALTEX – is something that clearly means a lot to him and his desire to help those who may be experiencing similar poor mental health. ■
In a future issue we will report on the mechanisms and strategies that have helped Karl, and others, improve their wellbeing.
MANAGE YOUR WELLBEING… BY TALKING ABOUT IT
Talking about your feelings is not admitting to weakness. You wouldn’t ignore a problem with your pitch – you would address it. Apply the same thinking to any worries you may have about your mental health
YOU MIGHT SEE mental health described as wellbeing, or psychological or emotional health. The word association for some might sound negative, a stigma and something we are not comfortable talking about. But mental health is a feature we all share. Think of physical health: we know we have times when we feel fit and healthy, and others when we might have aches and pains. Mental health is the same, we have good mental health and bad mental health, and that situation can improve and worsen. Therefore, we need to treat them similarly. Just as someone might share news of their bad back with you before heading to their GP or physio, so we should learn to talk more about difficulties we might be having with our state of mind.
There are numerous potential triggers for such difficulties, including financial concerns, relationship breakdown and physical injury.
Employment is also a major factor. We may spend more time at work than in any other location or engaged in any other activity. Consequently, there is a direct relationship between what we do for a job and our mental health.
As Rachel Baird, senior media officer at the Mental Health Foundation, says: “What happens to us at work affects our mental health and, equally, our mental health affects everything including our work.”
The type of work we do, and a lot of the experiences we have, are things that most of us will recognise and have in common.
The inner critic
Grounds management is an often-misunderstood profession. Some people can be dismissive of the knowledge and skills required, not knowing the science, mathematics and engineering that underpins the work. Others seem to consider themselves experts on what a surface needs and when it is playable, despite the grounds staff dedicating every resource they have – often in the face of adverse conditions.
Grounds people are often an outlet for blame – a batsman’s mistimed shot or a striker missing an open goal. Yet grounds staff are often harder on themselves than any critic, feeling there is always something that can be improved. Working in all weathers can be a bonus, but sometimes it can be relentless. And some of you will return home and try to get motivated to continue a distance learning course. Amidst all this, it is sometimes easy to miss the many positive factors and reasons why you continue what you do; the key role you play in sport, the freedom from an office environment and your pride in your work. Yet it remains a challenging job, with numerous points of stress and opportunities to develop anxiety.
A review of mental health in professional athletes by Souter, Lewis and Serrant (2018)
Learning to share concerns and problems can help improve mental wellbeing
identified that “the physical and psychological demands placed upon them by the sporting environment may predispose athletes to developing depression”. The parallels are clear: grounds people work in the same kind of environments in physical and psychologically demanding jobs. Anxiety and disorder symptoms have been found to be more than twice as frequent among elite rugby league competitors than in the general population (DuPreez and Graham, 2017). You may have more in common with the players who grace your surfaces than you might think.
A lot of you work alone, or perhaps just have part-time help. Even if you work in a team, tasks such as deep aerating a series of pitches can be a very slow and solitary business, with a lot of time to dwell on whatever may be on your mind. We all have moments when we want to spend time on our own. Some of us even think we would be happy on a desert island but, at heart, we are social animals and we need contact with others and a chance to talk.
It is not easy though, either speaking about problems or asking if someone has them. Fear, embarrassment, not wanting to appear somehow broken or unable to cope are all very real concerns. It perhaps might help to know just how common mental health problems are: • A survey of GPs by MIND identified 40% of visits by patients concerned mental health. • According to an NHS study, 1 in 6 people in
England experience a common mental health problem (such as anxiety or depression) in any given week. • Peer-reviewed research found that depression was the second leading cause of years lived with a disability worldwide, behind lower back pain. In 26 countries, depression was the primary driver of disability. • There were 8.2 million cases of anxiety in the UK in one year. • A YouGov poll of 4,619 people found 74% of respondents have felt so stressed that they have been overwhelmed or unable to cope.
The sports turf community can be very closeknit with strong networking and links between individuals. We must never forget to use those networks and to talk to each other more often about mental health. ■
Useful sources of help:
For GMA members who may require personal mental health support, please visit www.perennial.org.uk/bigwhitewall. This 24-hour anonymous service enables GMA members to join fellow professionals in accessing advice.
