Are you an athlete or work with athletes? Its estimated that 265 million people play soccer in the world, 220 million play badminton, 998 million play either indoor or outdoor volleyball, 450 million play rec or competitive basketball, 60 million play tennis, 300 million play table tennis (aka Ping Pong), 65 million play either baseball or softball globally, 60 million play golf, and a high number globally also play field hockey and cricket according to this article. Sports and competition are foundational for socialization and personal happiness. Sports can also be a great way to build camaraderie amongst players, amongst competitors and ultimately help to solidify a sense of personal satisfaction.
No matter how you choose to move your body, either through physical activity, recreation, sports, dance, or fitness its important to find something that YOU enjoy doing. The following blog is all about sports, competition and personal happiness. If you stay to the end you’ll be introduced to a program I designed to help build camaraderie amongst sensitive populations. Included in the blog are fun GIPHYs to help bring extra smiles 😊 to your face. Check out the stats for the podcast downloads if you’re one of my VIPs or desire to be included in the private concert 🎵 soon…
Top Strategy #1: 
🏒 🏏 🏸 Know What It Looks Like To Have Team Sports and Competition That Boosts Our Happiness.
I found this really neat blog that discusses the social and emotional benefits of playing sports. We don’t often talk too much about the emotional benefits. What we hear in the news in the US is usually pretty scandalous info about the athletes’ lives outside of the game. What about the positive benefits of the sport on the individual? The article dives into specifics such as helping to build confidence in the players and building empathy.
I remember my first time coaching middle school track. I was a late hire in the district because they had SO much turn out (over 100 track runners). They needed 5 coaches to handle 20 athletes each. I never completed a season of track myself but ran half marathons in college and beyond so it couldn’t be that hard right? I wasn’t sure what to expect but after the first 2 hour practice, athletes came up to me and thanked me for making them run 2 hours 
. I didn’t really understand why they were thanking me…
Their math teacher who was the head coach didn’t allow for any practices until they were fully staffed to keep things legal and safe for her athletes. Because the leadership set up good communication to the athletes, I got to receive kindness and gratitude from my group of runners.
I enjoyed it so much, I invited my friend Scott to join as a volunteer and he ran with the faster athletes. That season we ended up taking 1st in the district for the 4th time and the head coach didn’t want anything to jeopardize the success of the team as a whole. Of course we were all happy because we took 1st but I saw lots of happiness at every practice for the mundane boring (what some would call) fundamentals.
I’m curious to know your thoughts on team sports and competition boosting happiness. Share your thoughts on Facebook and tag me @TheRealMoveHappy. The best ideas/wisdom/questions will be shared and you’ll be given credit 💜
Top Strategy #2: 🏸 🏏 🏒 Know What Science Says About Team Sports, Competition and Your Happiness.
I found a neat study published in the Journal of Sport Psychology in 2020. The purpose of this article is to:1) investigate the relationship between mental toughness and sports related wellbeing, 2) identify the relationship between mental toughness and personal stigma towards mental health and 3) understand the influence of mental toughness on the relationship between public stigma and self-stigma amongst NCAA College D1 Athletes.
They hypothesized there would be a positive correlation between mental toughness and sports related well-being. The other two areas were explorational. They had 154 student athletes (116 female and 38 male). 50 of those were Freshman, 44 Sophomores, 21 juniors, and 34 seniors and 5 ‘other’ categories (I am guessing super seniors that hadn’t graduated yet). Mean age was 19.45 years.
Majority of the participants identified as white (94), followed by black (32), hispanic or latino (11), multi-ethnic (9), Asian (4), Other (2), Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander (1), Native American or Indigenous Alaskan (1). The sports included were: Volleyball (37), baseball (27), swimming and diving (27), golf (17), softball (10), track and field (9), soccer (8), field hockey (7), lacrosse (6), tennis (3) and ice hockey (2).
Athletes reported playing on their teams an average of 1.97 years and a total of 11.21 years playing their sport. 39% previously received mental health support from 1 or more sources including counselors, psychologists, sport psychologist, social workers etc.
They used the Mental Toughness Index (MTI) which measures from low toughness (8) to high toughness (56) in a 7 item questionnaire. For mental well being they used the Sport Mental Health Continuum Short Form (Foster and Chow 2019) which is a 14 item questionnaire. Scores range from 0 to 70 with the highest score being 70 for a strong well-being. For personal stigma towards mental health they used a modified version of the Depression Stigma Scale (Griffiths et al 2004). They changed the word “Depression” to “Mental Illness” in the questionnaire. Scores range from 0 to 36 with a higher score indicating a personal stigma towards those with mental illness. For Self-Stigma Towards Help Seeking they used the Unidimensional 10-item Self-Stigma of Seeking Help (SSOSH) scale (Vogel et al., 2006). For Public Stigma Towards Help Seeking they used a 5-item Perception of Stigmatization By Others for Seeking Help (PSOSH) scale (Vogel et al., 2009) to measure public stigma towards help seeking. Scores range from 5-25 with a higher score indicating higher perceived stigmatization from others.
They found a strong relationship between mental toughness and perceived well-being exclusively. If a professional college athlete perceived their well-being was strong, their mental toughness was strengthened. Are you getting it? How we think about ourselves is a direct connection to how strong our mindset or mental toughness is. We are not much different than pro athletes like the ones that were studied. We need to start changing how we talk to ourselves, how we talk about ourselves to others and ultimately who we hang around.
Personally, I remember my volleyball coach from junior high. Coach Pendon sat me down and said, “Erin we’ve got a few spots on the team and we have double the number that have tried out. Why do you deserve a seat?” I remember so confidently answering him in my authentic empathic way, “Coach I deserve a seat because I’ll be the one encouraging all the players that are having a bad day and making sure they feel loved and included…”
Needless to say I got cut from the team and shifted to focusing on music and dance as my competitive space. However, it taught me a lesson early on of who I am and where I fit in. I didn’t fit in on his team because he wanted to keep his 1st place reputation. There is nothing wrong with that! However, I do believe that’s why he’s still there as the middle school coach and I’m helping empower coaches, teachers, mental health facilitators, social media influencers, government leaders and anyone wanting to improve the treatment of those with mental illness through my message and spirit..
A shift is coming and our elite athletes are desiring for the shift to take place just as much as I am when it comes to the treatment of all people with mental illness, depression, anxiety and the like.
I’m curious for your feedback, opinion, additional insights and wisdom. Please share your post on Instagram and tag me @TheRealMoveHappy. The most interesting will be shared and you’ll be tagged!
Top Strategy #3: 
Know What the global impact of sport, competition and personal happiness is.
I found a really interesting study just recently conducted in Brazil titled: “Influence of the Coach’s Method and Leadership Profile on the Positive Development of Young Players in Team Sports.” The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between the teaching methods and leadership profile of the coach and outcomes on the perception of positive development of young people participating in an after school sports program.
They had 910 youth athletes (14 years +- 1.8 years) and 57 coaches (45.57 +- 7.25 years) in 37 public schools in the city of Curitiba, in the state of Paraná-Brazil. They found a small sized games method were positively associated with cognitive skills and goal setting. Furthermore they found, “Positive associations were also found between athletes’ perceptions of the leadership profile of coaches with: personal and social skills (instructor, democratic behaviour, social support, and positive feedback), cognitive skills (instructor, democratic behaviour, and social support), goal setting (instructor, social support, and positive feedback), and initiative (instructor and positive feedback).”
What this means is that coaches that exhibited leadership skills that included the team’s opinions and allowed for some autonomy (or freedom) to form were also perceived by their athletes as better coaches. Note that positive feedback was associated with a perception of better coaches by their youth athletes. The literature continues to demonstrate coaches that include positive feedback for athletes in team sports helps solidify a positive association with sport later in life.
I remember my first year coaching cross country. This was a low income school and a first year offering for middle school girls. Our first day running I noticed some of the girls had sandals on and some had slip on shoes. I asked the girls if they forgot their athletic shoes? A couple said yes, majority did not own a pair of athletic shoes. I knew how important a first time experience with any new skill. It can shape the choice to either stick with or quit that activity in the future…
So I reached out to the local running store and explained the situation. I said, “is there any way you are able to donate slightly used shoes?” The owner is an avid marathoner and said, “get me their shoe sizes and I’ll take care of it.” Sure enough a few days later we got brand new running shoes for all the athletes. Although the girls didn’t get 1st that season, I hope they have positive memories looking back at that first season. I know it was fun for me! We didn’t have any injuries that year, we didn’t lose anyone off the team and actually grew it 13x.
I volunteered to coach additional running days on Saturdays and brought my husky/lab puppy, Mister. Parents that could drive their daughters to the parks around town were encouraged to have a fun day meeting me as their daughter’s assistant coach. I wanted to build community with the families. I initially thought parents would want to run alongside but many dropped their daughters off and picked them up an hour or 2 later 😂. Faster runners took Mister and ran ahead in small groups. Some non Cross-Country team members started showing up with their friends because girls love to be social. I think that’s how we grew the team 13x because they started spreading word about the fun factor…
Our head coach Mr. Cory is retired now and we recently reconnected through this music 🎶 thing I’m doing for our Veterans and First Responders. He is a retired Veteran and helped keep the girls accountable in their studies as he was a teacher at their school. It was one of the most fun jobs I’ve ever had. Sadly the next season they lost funding for the assistant coach position and I couldn’t afford to volunteer. However I’ll hold onto those memories for life! I hope the girls do too 😊.
I’m curious what your experiences are around team sports and happiness. Please share your short story on Twitter and tag me @MoveHappyTeam. I’ll retweet the coolest experiences and help you build out your brand 💜
Top Strategy #4: 
Know some simple solutions to incorporating more sport, competition and happiness into your life.
I’m not going to lie, this week’s topic is a challenging one with covid shut down in many places. I did some personal research. I called my Lil Sis from Big Brothers Big Sisters of America and asked her what’s going on in her area for sports. She is a great volleyball player. She said although they’re not doing competition games right now they are allowing for small athletic pods of 6 players during practice sessions. Athletes have to wear their masks so its a little challenging on the lungs but they make due and take breaks as they need.
With any competition (whether it be sport, music, academics, debate or other) the real work happens in the practice time. As the world famous coach John Wooden said, “teaching of fundamentals, until they are all executed quickly, properly, and without conscious thought, is a prerequisite to playing the game. Drills must be created so that all of the fundamentals are taught to the criterion that players execute them automatically.”
This time in our history globally has never happened during our lifetimes. Although it doesn’t sound fun or desired, it is imperative that we continue to work on the fundamentals and encourage our young athletes to do the same. The best way to do so is to lead by example…
Personally, I don’t enjoy weight bearing exercises all the time but I know that I should incorporate them at minimum 1 day a week according to American College of Sports Medicine standards. Currently I do 2 weight bearing days specifically and when facilitating group fitness classes (pre-covid) I always incorporated the 3 superpowers 🦹♀️ 1) cardio, 2) muscle fitness, 3) flexibility exercises into every workout. I enjoy the feeling when I finish #RealTalk .. I figure if people in wheelchairs can get up and do it modified and those with MS can get to the gym and do their pool resistance exercises, I really have no excuse not to.
What are some of your solutions to incorporating more sport, competition and happiness into your life regardless of Covid? It’s time to get creative leaders. Share on LinkedIn and tag me @move-happy. The best solutions will be shared and you’ll get credit to help build out your brand.
Congratulations to Cornel Montano for your contribution to our content on LinkedIn. Cornel shared about his professional experiences playing competitive hockey and being a coach. He also shared about a cool book called Positive Coaching which I will be checking out soon! Heck maybe we can get the author, Jim Thompson on the Move Happy Movement Podcast©️? If you’re interested in having him on the show, feel free to email him and tell him I sent you! Thanks again Cornel for your insights and wisdom!
💃 🏃♀️ 🤸♀️ 🧘♀️ 🙏 Move Happy Updates:
The Move Happy Movement Podcast©️ is going strong. Check it out on iTunes , podbean Spotify (1st 40 or so episodes- they stopped converting and don’t have the most current episodes sawwy), and someone added it to Listen Notes #NotMe 😂. We are going strong thanks to YOU! No ads, no bots creating fake downloads. You are spreading the word! I hope to help at least 1 person a day with the guests I bring or when I talk about important leadership topics by myself. Thank you for helping spread the mission of empowering depressed people globally to find their own happiness through mindset, community and fitness!
This coming Monday I’ll be releasing an interview with one of my former customers, friend and former Mrs. United States-WA. She is a mom, wife, networker, public speaker, and passionate about our First Responders and Veterans. She is one of those special people that I can always count on without any expectations in return. She is full of love, insights and collaboration. You are going to LOVE what she shares. Make sure to follow me on Twitter @MoveHappyTeam as my distribution platform has an AI setting that releases it there once I upload 😃.
Once we hit 10,000 downloads I’ll be hosting a Private VIP Concert 🎵 For Those Consistently Sharing Move Happy®️Content and writing reviews on iTunes! 💃 Check out where our downloads are at now as of Saturday Feb 20th 2021 ⬇️⬇️⬇️
Top Strategy #5: 💃 
Know How Move Happy
can help you incorporate more team sports, competition and personal happiness.
I designed a 16-week cross-curricular fitness/positive psychology program for detrained obese adults in one of the most sensitive populations in the world; a locked psychiatric hospital. Although my focus was not on team sports, one of my genius skills is building camaraderie and community in addition to having a background in group fitness facilitation as a former American College of Sports Medicine Group Fitness Instructor.
One of the key indicators of personal happiness is progress and autonomy. Our group therapy time (as co-facilitated by a Licensed Mental Health Therapist) was a place for non-judgment, self expression, and personal fitness focus. I explained in the first week that our fitness is very personal and varies from day to day and person to person. Some of our patients took medications that caused weight gain and also increased a sense of sleepiness. They had some barriers working against their abilities to bring the energy needed for a kickass workout session.
However, I wanted them to not beat themselves up if they noticed one of their fellow patients was able to get more repetitions in than them. The most successful athletes (like Michael Phelps and MichaelJordan) don’t focus on other people’s scores, they focus on personal improvement.
We did the same thing in our Move Happy group. Each day we incorporated optionality based on personal best. Patients got to select an easy workout, a medium workout or a challenging workout from day to day. I also participated in the workout as well as my colleague so they got to see which workout intensities we chose and it modeled positive behavior and healthy competition. My mentor, Sayaka LHMT, tended to select easier to moderate workouts because she facilitated private therapy after work many evenings and probably didn’t want her hair to get messed up 😂 . I chose the moderate to difficult workouts because I knew how badly I needed my depression to subside from losing my father, processing my divorce a few months prior to that, PTSD from crazy roommates and financial strain from lawyer fees… and a few months later losing my mom’s best friend (my 2nd mom) and wife of my father’s best friend… I needed to kick my own butt to decrease the severity of stress in my life…
By the end of the 1st round patients started working out in addition to our group, in their rooms and started positively influencing their roommates that were not in our group! Some of the patients that had levels 4 and 5 (close to discharge from the hospital) had more fresh air breaks and would co-mingle with other patients in other wards. Word spread to another hall from some of the patients that had just been admitted as the ‘cool group’ to join.
During our end of the summer annual festival 2 patients I had never met before walked up to me and asked if I was the “Move Happy Girl?” They told me they heard about the group and asked, “Can we move to your hall so we can be in your group?” I was blown away that they even found out because their wards are double locked and I never asked any of the patients to tell anyone about it. Our patients genuinely enjoyed coming to our group and became my Move Happy marketers around campus 
.
If you are a group therapy or group fitness instructor desiring to combine the two domains, I believe this program will be good for you. You can purchase it here. 30% of your purchase will be donated to a mental health organization of your choice and 10% will be donated to your local chapter of Big Brothers Big Sisters of America. Because I want you to take swift action, the first one to purchase and email me (erin@themovehappy.com) their receipt copy with the subject line “BLOG BONUS” will receive an additional 1 hour zoom training with your group to help set your group up for a win. Thank you in advance for your purchase.
So there you have it folks! Team sports ⚽️ 🏈 🏀 ⚾️ 🏏 🏸 🏒 🏐 🎾 🏊♀️ and competition can help us be empowered to feel happier. Ultimately the happiness responsibility lies within us. However, exploring a variety of ways to move our bodies, having some camaraderie with others can help us discover more about ourselves. Whether we enjoy the cooperative competitiveness of sports like Volleyball, or the aggressiveness of sports like rugby and football, they all have a special place in our hearts. There is a lot that is said by the choices in sports we make. I know when I first learned about this in my undergrad from the Sport Psychologist of the USA Women’s Soccer Team, Dr. Hacker, it opened my eyes and heart to more of who I am. I have always chosen safe activities that include minimal physical contact in aggressive way. I know it’s because I am a survivor of child abuse and have been designed to bring people together. So my ‘sport’ choices have been more independent like swimming, dance, hiking, distance running and volleyball. I enjoy supporting others in their passions and interests and that’s the beauty of being in the field of sport and exercise psychology. We understand that its ultimately up to the individual desires that help shape a person’s decision to get up and move… If you haven’t found a sport or activity that gets you jumping out of bed yet, do as Dr. Hacker encouraged us in her lectures. Try something new every year. Keep adding variety until you find something that you can claim as your own. Do it for YOU and to demonstrate love towards yourself and your future happier self…
PS: Don’t forget to tell someone you love them today…
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