In football, the taboo of mental health builds walls of silence.

 

Of course, everything is great when goals are achieved, but the havoc that an eventual defeat can cause is tough. The constant pressure to achieve positive results, prolonged absence from the field due to rebel injuries, and in many cases, loneliness, primarily due to living in other countries, all increase the risk of mental illnesses, which are prone to severe depression and anxiety.

 

Today, mental health is a topic that is gaining the attention of professional footballers and clubs, which include psychologists in the comprehensive training of athletes from an early age. However, this is not the case for all.

 

In other cases, neglect and absolute loneliness prevail.

 

Daniel Malamed, from Mexico, tells us about the virtues of the EmoRisk system, which focuses on the mental health of footballers and contributes to improving their performance. The program can recognize, detect, and locate risks in real-time. It also conducts daily assessments to check emotional states, identifying and detecting psychosocial factors that require prevention or intervention. It can even reveal positive or negative leaders.

 

Daniel is a personal friend of Pablo Lima, currently residing in the United States. Like every member of the football family, he still feels the pain of the tragic death of Santiago "Morro" García. At the same time, from a distance, he seeks to lend a hand to all those players who today need extra non-sporting assistance.

 

- How does the EmoRisk system work in general?

 

"It is a technical development with artificial intelligence that allows sports clubs, through their psychologists and work teams, to track and analyze players' emotions deeply. This is done with an algorithm that recognizes more than one hundred and fifty (150) types of emotions at different levels, through voice."

 

- Is it reliable?

 

"The program is already used by clubs in different European leagues and by several teams that participated in the last edition of the Copa Libertadores. For example, without naming names, an important player from one of the teams that finished at the top of the tournament had not played for several months due to a serious injury. He turned to EmoRisk, and not only did he recover, but he also ended up playing with very good performance. It is also used by basketball and American football teams in the United States. It is applied to any high-competition sport and preferably in the development of athletes, from fifteen (15) years old to the top elite level."

 

- What does it involve?

 

"First, it helps athletes get emotional support. Second, it reduces injury risks by high percentages. And third, it optimizes the overall and individual performance of the teams. All of this is achieved through the results obtained from the platform's analysis."

 

- Is it applied at a group level or can it also be done individually?

 

"The analyses are done individually, covering international data privacy standards. With the data in hand, psychologists, along with members of the coaching staff, have the possibility to make more efficient decisions at the group level. For example, when forming the team, with players who are much more motivated and at lower risk of physical health problems."

 

- Is it proven?

 

"It is proven that the system helps athletes reduce stress, control excitement and anxiety levels, and have proactive alerts of depression or dysthymia tendencies. These types of conditions are common in athletes who are outside their home country or in those who compete individually, such as tennis players. Of course, and it's worth noting, the program is available to all Uruguayan footballers and athletes."

​

→Link to Diario Tenfield (Article available in Spanish)