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Graham Arnold Admits Players Need Help during this Crisis
Socceroos national team coach Graham Arnold claims that it is very important for mental preparation ahead of talks about a potential return to normal life. His opinion stems from the fact that players can find it very difficult to deal with a normal routine being taken away – both in terms of physical and mental status. Many clubs are expecting to hold a session that is almost similar to pre-season training in order to get the players back up to schedule before getting back to the professional games. Players are suited to a schedule over the course of a calendar year with very little breaks, but they have had to deal with almost 2 months without any football or training.
In order to assist players who have had a troubled period, Arnold says that he has taken a lot of steps along with the support staff. The national team staff have been trained with the help of psychologists for six weeks. He is also looking to expand the program to the players. Australia were expected to play in a number of crucial World Cup qualification and Copa America games during the months of March and June. Yet, these have been taken out of the window by the coroner this pandemic. Even though it will result in a packed fixture schedule for the team going forward, Arnold is remaining positive.
“All elite sportsmen love routine and when you take routine away, it can be scary for some boys and girls who haven't been told on how to adapt.Whichever way the mind goes the rest will follow.It's about just talking to them about what are their issues and they can range from different things to a player being off-contract to a player, for example, all of a sudden they aren't used to being at home with their kids because they're out training and away and all of a sudden at home all the time,” said Arnold.