I find it very hard to describe how everything feels right now.
Scary, uncertain and ever-changing are all words I would use. Certainly nothing feels normal right now.
Professional sport has been wiped out for the foreseeable future and for many of us that is a part of everything feeling so strange.
The concerns for professional sports people right now pale into triviality compared to the most vulnerable sections of our society. However, I know that many of them will feel completely lost at this time.
It is often written how professional sports people struggle in retirement. They struggle to find a sense purpose and meaning when the matches and structure of training are taken away.
They often define themselves by their success on the sporting field and when that contest is taken away, they feel a void in their lives.
That is exactly how many of them will feel right now with the temporary retirement that the coronavirus has forced on them.
Telling them to read a good book and enjoy some time at home is a bit like telling a shopaholic to just enjoy a stroll around the shops without buying anything – it’s not what they do.
But it is not a time for us or them to feel sorry for themselves.
This is a time for them to use their profiles and platforms to help others. Many of them will have substantial followings on social media and while we are all isolated from one another, social media will be a means to connect us all.
Self-isolation for some is a scary prospect that they view with trepidation; and they will need our support throughout this time.
Sports people have an opportunity during this ‘down-time’ to pull society forward with them. They can inspire others to stay positive and look out for one another.
Gary Neville’s wonderful move this week to open up his two hotels in Manchester to NHS staff to stay at free-of-charge is an example of what can be done by those in that position.
It is an incredibly generous gesture from a monetary point of view, but it also shows the wider public that we need to pull together and help others. Whether big or small gestures, it is all going to help as we look to get through whatever the coming weeks bring.
Entertaining people in sports arenas is on hold, but this doesn’t mean the that professional sports people should sit back and do nothing now.
Stand up, inspire, help and be leaders within our society to get through this difficult time.
