Sports mentoring is effective at providing a young person with a structure of support and motivation as they discover their inner resilience and agency.
They learn new skills and gain physical mastery through persistence and practice, alongside the encouragement of a trusted mentor. Self esteem grows as they realise the results that their own choices and actions may achieve.
When young people have suffered trauma, they experience physical and emotional repercussions, as Bessel van der Kolk writes in ‘The Body Keeps Score’,
‘Traumatized people chronically feel unsafe inside their bodies. The past is alive in the form of gnawing interior discomfort.
Their bodies are constantly bombarded by visceral warning signs, and, in an attempt to control processes, they often become expert at ignoring their gut feelings and in numbing awareness of what is played out inside.
They learn to hide from their selves.
