Why Team Sport Is One of Our Biggest Losses During Isolation

Wondering why you can’t get motivated to exercise? This could be it.

This post is presented in partnership with Participa8.

Put your hand up if you planned on spending your self-isolation getting shredded in your makeshift backyard gym?

Keep your hand up if you actually managed to do it.

We’re gonna assume most of you have your hands placed sadly in your lap. Maybe you didn’t even move a muscle when we asked the first question—that’s how little exercise you’ve been doing lately.

Me, at home everyday with snacks and no exercise pic.twitter.com/p8KY24jI8Y

— PokéMemes from PokéJungle (@ultrapokememes) April 16, 2020

Without access to gyms, many public parks or any team sport, self-motivating for exercise has never been more difficult. And yet, we’ve never needed exercise more. Not only are we sitting around the house, binging Netflix and eating too much to pass the time, but we’re also missing the mental health benefits that come with exercise.

We asked Associate Professor Ben Jackson from the University of Western Australia’s School of Human Sciences what exactly we’re losing during iso.

He explains to Student Edge that exercise helps "decrease anxiety and stress and depressive symptoms that, obviously in times like these, are really important."

"[We also get] increases in nice things like optimism and body image and quality of life, confidence and those sorts of things," he adds.

"Improvements in mood come about from a 15 or 20-minute exercise session. But if we want to get those things happening consistently, then we obviously need to adhere to the exercise that we’re doing."

How dare this quarantine make me workout 😨 wow I’m fit now don’t talk to me

— Breydis (@Slingerrr_) March 19, 2020

And here A/Professor Jackson points towards an explanation as to why you might not be feeling so satisfied with the few workouts you’re doing right now: you’re doing them alone.

"The lack of social support and the lack of enjoyment is something we often see people cite as a reason for dropping out of exercise or sport," he says.

"The sorts of things that tend to keep people around are the camaraderie, the banter, the humour."

It’s a lesson we can take with us when social distancing ends and team sports begin again (and reiterated by Participa8, an app that helps coaches keep players invested in team sports for the long haul).

"The social aspect and the team and group nature of things can be really powerful: in helping people adhere to and enjoy their exercise," A/Professor Jackson says.

"We don’t necessarily create those connections so that people feel a sense of obligation to those in their team, but that often does happen as well.

"So as long as that obligation is wrapped around enjoying the people that you’re with and having fun with those people, rather than just feeling bad if you let them down, then that can be quite a powerful driver of people’s behaviour."

Having observed physical education at schools, A/Professor Jackson also knows the value of having a team leader and a group of peers to keep us motivated.

"The environment that’s created by a leader or an instructor or a coach or a teacher is really crucial at those younger age groups," he says.

He’s also heard of some teams using this time to keep connected: "They’re using Zoom catch-ups to have the social side of things [though] they’re not necessarily watching each other exercise at the same time."

However, of all the things that we have to adjust without during these strange days, participation in team sport is one we just can’t replicate online, for the consistent exercise it helps generate, plus all the benefits that come with it. And yes, that includes the bants. Hopefully, we’ll be back on the field soon enough.

Participa8 is the Coach’s Virtual P/A. It helps sporting bodies and clubs retain their participants by assisting coaches enjoy their coaching, drive engagement in their team and deliver quality personalised feedback. Find out more here.

Header Image: Portra via Getty Images