Dr Tan said that though he had abstained from playing any kind of video games to focus on his training, his dad was the one who positively encouraged him to play them.
“My dad felt that I has been so weird being a teenager who was not really interested in computer games, that he forced me to play, ” he said. “You want several normality … you can be totally unaware. ”
He or she added that he acquired applied this beliefs to his later years in the sport.
For instance, while he was training as a national athlete, he still sought out with his friends meant for drinking sessions : except he would create compromises such as not really consume any alcoholic beverages.
“When I don’t drink, my figure still stays expending optimal, but at the same time, I also want to obtain more social skills, ” he mentioned. “While learning to be a better sailor, Also i need to learn to be a better person, it’s not contradictory. ”
However , sport psychologists said these compromises and ways of dealing with tension have to happen from the young age.
Chief sport and performance psychologist in SportPsych Consulting Edgar Tham said that to keep athletes away from coping with their stress via unhealthy means, presently there needs to be a “proactive approach”.
With younger athletes, Mr Tham will often do a “mental screening” on them, such as asking them what their mental state is, and what stressors these people face.
If the athlete indicate any kind of issues or show signs of stress, then your athletes will be backed by psychologists.
“The proactive approach is what (sporting bodies) don’t do enough, it’s just like a ticking time explosive device, once the stress goes beyond a certain degree, athletes may take desperate measures to deal with this in their own way, ” he mentioned.
However , it is only individual to err, plus ultimately elite sportspeople cannot be expected to steer clear of all of life’s lure during the years these people spend training and competing.
As Fang, the former national triathlete, place it, these sportspeople have been in a high-pressure atmosphere, and have fewer outlets than most in order to de-stress.
“For normal people, sporting activities can be a respite from the daily work, but elite sportsmen don’t have this method, which might explain precisely why they seek different ways to blow away steam and release stress, ” he said.
For ex-national swimmer Tao, a common way for her to relieve the pressure of competitors was to engage in retail therapy, and rare occasions, she’d go to a nightclub.
“Different people will have different ways to alleviate their pressure … I think once or twice annually should be okay, ” she said. “But when I was contending, I didn’t smoke, and I didn’t drink alcohol at all. ”
Ultimately, said Schooling’s former coach Lopez, it is unrealistic to expect athletes to not need to do the things that normal people do.
Lopez, who won the bronze honor in the 1988 Olympics, returned to his country a leading man, having been the first person born and elevated in Spain to win an Olympic medal in swimming.
He went to a nightclub to celebrate the achievement, only to have some the public come up to your pet and criticise your pet for consuming alcohol.
“I’m not excusing any of that, but I believe what people need to understand is that people are individuals and they go through lots of things, and they feel very lonely and they make decisions that they shouldn’t. ”
However , the sportspeople interviewed all of agreed that a collection has to be drawn along with illegal substances, like recreational or performance-enhancing drugs.
Whenever athletes make such grave mistakes, they have to own up to them, because after all, they are still in the public eye and a role design to many.
“When you split the law, you have to be accountable, and you have to be responsible and you have to be honest using the mistakes that you create, ” said Lopez.
CAN SINGAPORE PRODUCE SERIAL WORLD-BEATERS?
While the world celebrates serial winners — Roger Federer in tennis, Michael Phelps in swimming, Lionel Messi in football, and a select group of others who have acquired sporting immortality : can we anticipate Singapore itself to produce more than one-hit miracles?
The nation offers occasionally produced entire world beaters, such as Education, who went on to beat his idol Phelps en route to a gold medal in the 2016 Olympics, plus badminton player Low, who outplayed after that world number one Viktor Axelsen to clinch the world championship title last year.
However , such feats have yet to be repeated on the same scale regarding either of the 2 athletes, which begs the question: Is it reasonable for Singaporeans to expect a repeat associated with world-beating performances from our athletes?
The answer, according to veteran athletes, is “no”.
“People think that just because you are an Olympic champion, you need to be an Olympic champion the next time, ” said Lopez. “I’m sorry, but if it had been that easy, everybody would certainly do it. ”