British hurdler Jack Green considers switch to rugby union after enduring "the ...

In a frank statement about the mental issues he has been battling, Green said:

“Those close to me and working with me know I have been suffering with

depression over the last year and, despite a full recovery, I believe a

break is necessary for my mental health.

“Athletics at the top level requires an application that I had,

disappointingly, not been able to give it in recent times, which made life

both on and off the track extremely difficult for me and I need to step back

for a period of time.

“I wanted to be open and honest about my reasons for taking this break.

“I have been lucky to be so well supported during this time by the British

Athletics support staff, but I realise this can be a difficult subject

matter and if me being honest offers anyone else some support then that can

only be a good thing.

“I’d like to thank the British Athletics performance team, including my coach

Malcolm Arnold, for their support and understanding leading up to this

difficult decision.”

Green announced himself as one of Britain’s most exciting young track

prospects when he won 400m hurdles gold at the 2011 European Under-23

Championships in Ostrava in the Czech Republic.

The following year he qualified for his first Olympic Games where he reached

the semi-finals before tripping over a hurdle on the back straight and

failing to finish the race.

He also ran the second leg in the Olympic 4 x 400m final, in which the British

team finished an agonising fourth, just 0.13 sec behind the bronze medal

winners.

But Green, who trains alongside 2011 world 400m hurdles champion Dai Greene in

Bath, endured a difficult campaign last summer, running two seconds slower

than his personal best from 2012 and failing to finish his heat at the

European Under-23 Championships in Tampere, Finland in July. He immediately

called a halt to his season, saying he had experienced “the worst year of my

life”.

Michael Caulfield, one of Britain’s leading sport psychologists, said symptoms

of depression were often exaggerated in athletes because of the extreme

intensity and focus in their lives.

“All of us have a period in life when you’re feeling less big and less

confident than you normally are,” he said. “If you live entirely for your

sport and it begins to desert you whether through form, fitness, confidence

or age even, that’s when it can exacerbate the feeling of being low. We saw

a terrible example recently where [the England cricketer] Jonathan Trott was

basing his life on his batting average, and then of course it deserted him.

“I think that exacerbates the dark periods of your life because it’s taken

away from you.”

Article source: http://www1.skysports.com/rugby-union/news/12553/9065808/bath-announce-immediate-departure-of-director-of-rugby-gary-gold

British hurdler Jack Green considers switch to rugby union after enduring "the ...