TRANSCRIPT
Jennifer Hamer used to be a professional endurance runner and cricket player. Like other young elite athletes, she was a perfectionist and competitive.
She not only practiced very hard on the field, but also paid close attention to her body.
"I felt like I needed to be small to be successful as a runner, and I would find myself comparing myself to other peers who I was racing against, and feeling like I needed to be smaller than them if I wanted to beat them, or leaner than them if I wanted to beat them."
At 12 years old, Dr Hamer was diagnosed with an eating disorder, and for the next decade, her sports career was disrupted by the mental illness.
"Despite that issue, I did manage to have a lot of success with my sporting endeavor s and got to represent Great Britain at running on several occasions, but I was always suffering from injury or withdrawal because I was never fueling appropriately for my sport because of my eating disorder.”
At 22, Dr Hamer was diagnosed with osteoporosis, as her bones became too brittle to play sports at a competitive level.
She ended her sports career, and later became an athlete wellbeing consultant.
She has a message to young athletes who might feel anxious about their bodies.
"Athletes or sports lovers who want to be in the competitive stage, I always say, remember why you started that sport? And you started it because you really loved how it made you feel, and to try and hold on to that idea of focusing on what your body is enabling you to do, rather than what it looks like."
To support young athletes like Dr Hamer, the mental health advocacy group Butterfly Foundation teamed up with Australian football stars, hoping to raise awareness on the issue.
At the Inaugural Butterfly Trophies lunch at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Wednesday, AFL greats Luke Hodge, Abbie Holmes, Joel Selwood and Emma Kearney shared their journey to overcome challenges when pursuing top performances in their field.
Dr Danni Rowlands is the Head of Prevention at Butterfly Foundation. She says many young athletes often attach their weight and body composition to their performances and successes.
"This also happens as a result of coaches or other support staff or sometimes even parents who are really helping that athlete or trying to help that athlete to achieve their goals. But unfortunately, what happens is it becomes a focus on on the body, and also this drives of affection and the athletic mindset, which is a bit black and white and a win at all costs."
Last year, the Butterfly Foundation found that one in five Australians aged 15 and over were unhappy with their body images.
Several research also found that besides elite athletes, young people are becoming disengaged from sports, with body dissatisfaction being one of the top concerns.
"and this is because perhaps they are they have been told that their body isn't a right fit for the sport that they're involved in. Perhaps they're feeling uncomfortable in their body because of its weight, shape or size, feeling that maybe it's inadequate because it's not tall enough, fast enough, muscular enough to participate in a sport. A lot of young people saying that they just don't like having their body looked at. And obviously there's an element of performance when it comes to sport."
Julian Saba is the director of Youth Sports Australia that offers basketball programs for teenagers. He is also a physical education teacher at a secondary school in New South Wales.
He's noticed that many students begin disengaging from sports in Year 9 and Year 10, because they lack confidence in physical activities.
"When it comes to participating in sport, the lack of confidence really is detrimental to them wanting to play basketball, soccer, football, and this is a big problem, I think, with the biggest separation between boys and girls. So when they get to high school, you really notice that girls do not like to participate in sport in front of boys."
He says one of the reasons is because during primary schools, many students aren't trained by qualified PE teachers, and they didn't develop the skills and confidence that could help them engage with sports events in high schools.
Anxious about how people look at them, students then step away from sports.
"And I think the mix with social media. And the unreal, unrealistic expectations of, you know, what a body looks like. You know what a healthy body looks like? It really impacts their their mental mindset, you know, when it comes to to sport. So personally, I believe it's I like to separate my lessons with boys and girls playing their own games, and I find that increases participation, especially amongst the girls, because there is that fear of judgment."
Mr Saba hopes to see a more comprehensive curriculum for physical education, including content that teaches students about body images and the resilience of being comfortable with changes, including those experienced during puberty.
George Perry is the Chief Operating Officer at YMCA New South Wales, whose organisation has introduced sports mentoring programs to address what he called 'the exodus of young girls leaving sports'.
He says the programs have received positive feedback from teenagers.
In particular, they created a gymnastic program that encourage girls to join the practice by wearing their own T-shirts rather than leotards. They also recruited a wide range of trainers of different shapes and sizes to be the role models that encourage young girls to join sports.
"So it's about healthy mind and spirit as much as as much as a healthy body as well. So, you know, teaching them life skills, like, you know, resilience, perseverance and teamwork. So we believe that those are really important parts of of learning a sport as well. So we encourage them to do that."
In recent years, there's been a growth of teen gym programs tailored to teenagers who turn to the fitness industry to build their physical strength.
Dr Rowlands from the Butterfly Foundation says while personal training could be an alternative, especially for young people who aren't interested in team sports, it is important to watch whether the young people turn to gyms just to achieve their body ideals.
She also warns of the potential influence of gym-related content on social media and their impacts on body dissatisfaction.
Daniel Ucchino owns a family gym in northern Sydney which had a teen gym program. He says many parents have told him their children are worried about their own body images.
Mr Ucchino says in his program, he focuses on teaching new skills and movements to teenagers, rather than helping them to achieve certain body ideals.
He's been informed by parents that their children become more focused in class, and their mental wellbeing was improved as a result of engaging in physical activity.
He says to get teenagers into sports - whether it's strength training or team sports - making them enjoy the program is key.
"The tip would be a to find something they really enjoy, because the key is enjoyment first and foremost. Because if they don't enjoy they won't go back, even if it's the best activity or the best program. And what I find as well with that age group is they want to be mentally stimulated as well. It can't just be about, you know, faster feet are stronger or winning. So we use, we use barbells and dumbbells, and we use different we use movements that, that they probably have never done before. So they mentally stimulate as well as physically stimulated."
And if this story has raised issues for you or someone you know, you can get support from The Butterfly Foundation through 1800 33 46 73 - or via their website.
