Transcription
When you think about the benefits of young athletes participating in team sports, maybe you start with the benefits to the developing brain and body and how movement and exercise helps that growth and development. Then maybe you think about the feel-good brain chemical release and the emotional regulation that comes with playing sports. And then there's leadership and other skills young athletes can build, like teamwork, camaraderie, and problem-solving.
Well, in addition to all of those traditional benefits of playing team sports, recent cutting-edge research indicates that playing team sports can actually heal the brain of a young athlete that's been impacted by trauma. Yes, you can heal trauma with sports. The natural elements of sports—the pattern, repetitive, and rhythmic activities—the opportunities for young athletes to build healthy relationships with their teammates and coaches can actually be healing to the brain.
Now, the brain is only about one-third developed at birth; the rest forms over the next up to 30 years based on that individual's experiences and relationships. Every situation a person finds themselves in, all the communication and connection they have with those around them, are actually contributing to the development and structure of the brain. So all those relationships and experiences are impacting the brain wiring, the neural pathways, the memory imprint, and also the emotional regulation. Our biography becomes our biology.
For some children, they experience positive childhood experiences—experiences where they feel safe and connected, where the adults and others around them are attuned to who they are and what they need and are able to connect and communicate with them in healthy and nurturing ways. And those positive childhood experiences will form the brain in a certain way. For other children, they have perhaps more stressful, maybe even adverse childhood experiences—experiences where they did not feel safe and connected, where the adults and others around them were not attuned to who they are and what they needed, and the connection and communication was not necessarily healthy and nurturing, perhaps even toxic and traumatic. And those adverse childhood experiences are going to form the brain in a different way. And it's the formation of the brain, the development and foundation of that brain, that actually impacts how a young athlete thinks, how they feel, and how they behave.
Back in the 90s, they did some very impactful research called the Adverse Childhood Experiences Survey. They actually surveyed thousands of adults and asked them about their childhood experiences. They had 10 different types of childhood trauma, and the research studies suggested a very strong correlation between childhood trauma and health throughout the lifetime, both physical health and mental health. And so all of those adverse experiences are forming the brain in a different way and actually impacting health as adults. Now that original study has been replicated thousands of times with similar results. They've actually expanded the number and types of trauma, but again, very conclusive that what we experience as children actually impacts us as adults.
Now, brain researchers use amazing technology where they can actually do fMRI and PET scans, actually take a look at pictures of the brain. They take pictures and look at the brain at different intervals, especially for young athletes and other children, to see how their experiences and relationships are impacting the development and functioning of the brain. And so it's all about focusing on the attunement. When brain researchers look at the picture of a brain, they can actually brain map and pick out the specific regions of the brain that have been impacted by the adversity or trauma. They call those areas, according to researchers, either underdeveloped, or wounded, or injured.
And so the idea is that as sports coaches, sports parents, and volunteers within sports—the sports environment—you can be much more intentional how you communicate with children and how you experience the situations of sports and the competition of sports when we now realize that the brain can be changed and current relationships and current experiences can actually heal the brain. So when brain researchers look at those pictures of the brain and map out the picture and actually pinpoint the areas of the brain that have been impacted by trauma, many times for the developing brain, those areas are the areas that deal with attachment. Now, attachment for a young athlete—if a young athlete has attachment issues—that's going to cause some challenges in connecting with their teammates and their coaches. And so if we can pinpoint those areas of the brain, we can be much more intentional about meeting the needs of that brain for growth and development, but also facilitate healing.
So as sports coaches, sports volunteers, any adults in a child's life, you can become secondary attachment heroes and be much more intentional about your current relationships and current experiences to help facilitate the healing. Now, brain researchers suggest that healing comes from three different levels. The first level is the individual themselves—the athletes. Yes, even young athletes can be made much more aware and understanding of who they are and why they respond and feel like they do in certain situations. They can be empowered with new strategies and tools to help get them into a calmer, more regulated place to make better decisions.
Then the second level, according to researchers, is the family. The family of the young athlete, or any child, can be made much more aware and understanding about the behaviors of that child and the capacity of his or her brain and how their experiences are impacting the brain's capacity, which is causing those behaviors. To encourage the parents and family to look past the behaviors to some underlying needs—behavior is need-driven; meet the need, change the behavior. And so to be able to empower families to be able to assess and attune to those needs, to be able to meet those needs and get the appropriate behavior. And then, according to researchers, the third level for healing is the community. And that's the sports coaches, sports parents, and volunteers—any adult in a child's life who can appreciate that child's journey and realize that his or her experiences are impacting who they are today, how they think, how they feel, and how they behave. And sports coaches can look at young athletes with not what's wrong with them, but what's happened to them to cause them to behave a certain way. And then coaches and volunteers and other adults can be empowered with new sports brain tools to integrate into training and competition.
Now, I worked with a lot of different athletes at a lot of different levels, families, and sports programs. Several years ago, I worked with a family whose son, Darren, was nine years old at the time. And Darren was having a difficult time connecting with his teammates and his coaches. Now, Darren loves sports. He was a big kid; he was bigger and stronger and faster than most of his peers. And with both of his parents being former athletes, it was just natural for Darren to join sports and enjoy the benefits of sports. And when he was out there, he loved being in the open space, out on the corner on the field, as it made him feel very regulated.
Now, Darren's challenge, because of a lot of significant trauma in his past, was that he had a difficult time connecting with people. We suspected he had some attachment issues. And so the idea was to help Darren understand about all this energy and give him ways to get this energy out. Because many times when that energy got trapped for Darren, he would become dysregulated. When he would first get to practice, he needed negative attention to be able to get him regulated. So he would go into his teammates' sports bags and use their equipment, borrow the water bottle, go into the team bag, and annoy his coaches. And all that negative attention was meeting a need for Darren. So what I helped Darren understand—we spent a lot of time together and we really bonded—I helped him understand that fidgeting and holding on to something actually helped him calm down. So on the way over to practice, I encouraged him to take anything out of his sports bag, whether it was the ball or the water bottle or even his cleats, to give him something to hold on to and to touch and fidget with. It's those tactile touches that actually can send relaxing signals to the brain. And so rather than Darren just sitting waiting and looking out the window on his way over to practice and all that energy building up inside of him, and then when he got there he would burst out, and because of that dysregulation his need for negative attention would have him be able to touch other people's stuff and do some inappropriate things. And so by having him hold on to something and fidget with something on the way over, he was in a much more calmer and regulated place when he got to the field.
Then we moved on to the family. I was able to work with the family. There was some unhealthy communication and some unhealthy discipline, and really helping them look underneath the surface, past the behavior and try to figure out what Darren needed. I helped and coached them with new communication tools to be able to talk so Darren would listen to them, and listen so Darren would talk. And by being able to meet those needs, they were able to get a different behavior. Now, in terms of his, uh, his coach and his practice, many times Darren would be getting to practice right on time or a couple of minutes late, which added to his dysregulation. So I worked with his family to switch some logistics around to get him some different rides to be able to get him to practice early, which helped get him into a calmer place. And then we moved on to the third level, the community, and I was able to work with the sports coaches. And his coaches came up with an amazing strategy, and they put Darren in charge of setting up the field the first thing he got there at practice. Darren was very proud of that responsibility, and on the way over he was very focused on what he needed to do. And then when he got there, the coach would explain to him how they wanted the field set up, perhaps even draw a picture if it was more complicated. And then he got to go into the equipment bag and grab the balls and the cones and set up the field. And for that initial 10 or 15 minutes, he got some energy out, and he got the touch stuff, and he loved being able to set up the field, and he was much calmer and more regulated when he rejoined the team.
The brain is a social organ; healthy relationships are healing. As sports coaches, sports parents, any adult in a child's life, we can be much more intentional with integrating healthy communication, sports brain tools, brain training, brain warm-ups to not only meet the needs of growth and development and help athletes reach peak performance but also facilitate their healing. Change the brain, change the game. You can heal trauma with sports. Thank you. [Applause]