Dr Florian Wertenauer says it's easy to stay inside in front of the television, not playing sport. But the clinical director of adult acute mental health services at Canberra Hospital knows fresh air is important to the staff he works with.
That's why he organised a game of soccer with the hospital's emergency department head, Dr Sam Scanlan, to pit the two departments against each other.
"Exercise is important to actually unwind. For me it was for the first time that I ran around this year - it was [and] I felt it, I can tell you!" Dr Wertenauer said.
The match on Saturday morning at Melrose High School's synthetic soccer field was the first time many of the hospital's staff members had a chance to socialise this year away from work.
Although Canberra has been well-placed throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, the threat was far from over - something hospital staff remained acutely aware of.
"We're not yet on the other side. We're looking good. We're looking very, very good, but we still need to be careful. That's why the only time we can actually really get below the 1.5 metres is on the field," Dr Wertenauer said.
"Even this time, I had to look it up. I'm certain that we're still safe, COVID-wise. We would have liked to do a lot more, especially in a year like this. And it wasn't possible."
Soccer was the natural choice for the social match. "I'm German, so I can't play anything else," Dr Wertenauer said.
"And it's a good social sport," Dr Scanlan said. "Because everyone, you can have no skill and kick a ball. It means we can have a mixed game, get as many staff in as possible ... the standouts will standout. That's all right, we'll just get them off if they're playing too hard."
Both teams had a full range of players, from those who had played semi-professionally to those who had never kicked a ball before.
Maintaining your mental health on the hospital's front line was very important, Dr Scanlan said.
"You're dealing with pretty difficult circumstance all the time, with significant pressure. Everyone's feeling pressure, both from just treating a patient in front of you to all the performance targets that we're continually looking to improve. There's always pressure on," he said before the game.
"Trying to maintain a balance with work is really important, and it's also important that people are aware of themselves and how they're coping and dealing with things. So these sort of days are fantastic."
The game was tied 3-3, before Mental Health pulled away to win 6-4 in extra time.
