Any school or college knows how valuable it is when external speakers visit to inspire and educate young people about any aspect of adult life, whether that be careers, finance, or coping strategies.  Preparing our students for life beyond school, including developing the resilience to deal with the ups and downs, is one of the most important things we do.

With an increase in mental health and wellbeing issues affecting young adults, especially males, we were fantastically lucky to secure an online presentation to our sports scholars, from former England cricketer and current England lead batting coach, Marcus Trescothick, OBE.  As a key batsman for the England test, One Day International and T20 teams from 2000-2006, he began to suffer with stress-related illness during a tour of India and returned home early.   Since then, and whilst continuing his international and county careers, he has done much to raise awareness and understanding that sportsmen at the peak of their profession can be prone to psychological distress, owing to relentless schedules, pressure and the nature of their sport.

Marcus spoke to students about his life and explained when he was undertaking overseas tours against the likes of India and Australia, he initially believed the problem was just one of being homesick, but once home, he realised it was his mental health. He described how his whole life has been a bit of a battle with his mental health but with the right support he has found ways to deal with it. He shared the story of this battle and gave recommendations on how to cope with mental health as an athlete; make sure you stay healthy, get good sleep, and to stay active.

We are incredibly grateful to Marcus Trescothick for giving up his time to talk to and inspire our scholars about such an important topic; he had been back mere days, from England’s recent tour of India.