Codes | Quotes (emphasis added) |
Mental and emotional aspects play a role in the athlete experience and require support | ‘I think I was pretty intuitive with my body and I knew something wasn’t super correct…yeah, it’s pretty fatiguing…I would say, I think injuries really do play on the athlete’s mind a lot. And it was an injury that I think I was a little bit negative on because I was mismanaged at the start, but once we got the diagnosis, once we got the scans, once we got the doctors on board, I felt quite safe back in the hands of the [deidentified] water polo staff.’ Athlete 11 ‘It was really, really frustrating…When I had the injury, it was like pretty devastating because this is a period where I really was trying to make teams, trying to always be in front of the head coach of the Australian team (…) it was quite exhausting staying through this process mentally…it was a pretty frustrating experience.’ Athlete 9 ‘One part is mental…it’s really important to have a sports psychologist around…because athletes are passing through not a great period. And then we can decide if they really need support of wellbeing and everything.’ Coach 1 |
Dealing with injuries can be frustrating and impact on sense of team belonging | ‘I think the thing that really helped me during that rehab stuff was having…the medical staff, just always checking in with you during that time, because I think that sometimes when you’re injured and you’re not able to fully participate, you can sometimes feel quite isolated (…) I think it’s actually really important because it just can get a little bit lonely sometimes when you’re injured and you’re isolated from the team.’ Athlete 15 ‘It felt like I, as a coach…I was maybe either letting them down or letting the team down if I was pulling them out of things, because I didn’t understand the full extent of everything, which is not just me as a coach, but just…the amount of information we had or didn’t have. So, I found it very overwhelming, but also frustrating…really frustrating…And so it’s very different to now…there’s a lot more communication and a lot more notice about what we're doing. So…anyone that’s returning, we’ve got a plan in place.’ Coach 2 |
Experiencing upper limb injury can involve putting up with it | ‘With my finger, because it was on my left hand, I didn't have any time off training…Going back into training, just having to deal with the pain was the only thing. I think what hindered it was, well we were in the middle of a season, so it was quite hard for me to stop playing games at the time…but, looking back on it, I don't think there was another alternative for me.’ Athlete 7 ‘They know that it’s a long road to recovery and they are scared that they will miss out on so much improvement in that time that they'll be modifying training. Which I get, because that was my worst…the first time it started to hurt, I didn't want to say anything because I didn't want to stop training. I didn't want to modify training because I was like, I'm going to miss out on all this time which is really important but there’s always more time down the track.’ Athlete 1 ‘If they understand the consequences, they are a bit better at being honest. If they don’t understand the consequences, they go “I’m fine, I can play this weekend,” whereas really, they are in a fair bit of pain…All of that comes down to the communication, them having trust in you and you having trust in them that they are going to tell the truth.’ Coach 4 |
Mental & Emotional aspects play a role in the coach experience and require support | ‘There was an athlete that, a few years ago (…) I could sense that she was, they all go through waves of emotions, but hers was the end of her career and that’s partly her as a person. But I think then I didn't feel like I could give her the support that she needed so I felt like I was letting an athlete down and I probably felt like I wasn't giving her the best that she could have gotten, but I was doing the best I could in that situation.’ Coach 2 ‘I've got lived experience through the same (injury) they're going through or they're about to go through (…) I can understand it much better because I've actually gone through it, whereas I'm not sure what I would do if I hadn't have (…) Shoulder specifically, I feel there is such a mental component and a confidence component to it, particularly in water polo because you're working at the end ranges of that limb’s capacity and you have to produce a lot of power at that end range. So…you then have to have a lot of confidence in that skill and that joint to get back to peak performance.’ Support Staff 1 |
Life outside of water polo impacts on injury recovery (university, work, financial) | ‘In 2017, I was working full-time as a [manual occupation—deidentified] which actually involves lifting buckets, holding [items—deidentified] that tend to get heavy when they're relatively large. (…) So I definitely think…not so much the job itself but the lack of recovery (…) and just using my arms more and more every day, definitely was associated with how it kind of all started. I don't think it’s a coincidence that I had the shoulder injury the year that I started working full-time as a [manual occupation—deidentified].’ Athlete 14 ‘My biggest factor is just time and also finance, like being able to go to physio at…appropriate times if I’ve done something to my shoulder in that session, and I’ve got work all day. It’s a toss up, whether you call in late to work and go get physio, but then not sure if you can then pay for that and having to balance those sorts of commitments, is the biggest probably area outside of the pool, is just balancing that because we’re an amateur sport, everyone works or studies….So, I think that’s probably the biggest one outside of the pool is just those pressures that everyone has of being able to finance yourself and weighing up what are your options…’ Athlete 3 ‘It would be ideal to be like the Europeans where they are professional. That’s their earnings. A lot of these girls, some are studying, some are working. What happens in Europe, they’ll do four hours in the morning and…four hours in the evening. That’s their work.” Coach 6 |