Football is good for mental health
Local football manager urges anybody struggling with their mental health to come along to training.
Jordan Greer is the manager of Ballymoney Athletic FC. He speaks openly about living with a mental health condition and promotes the benefits which football has brought to his wellbeing.
Jordan describes that he began struggle with his mental health early in life. “When I was younger, it was a lot worse. But now I’ve learnt how to deal with it and learnt coping mechanisms to get myself out of the rut”, he said.
“I have times, with my mental health, where I can sit and talk to anyone and be open. But I have times where my fiancée gets quite frustrated, because there’s like two days where I just sit there and don’t want to talk to anybody – that’s sort of my coping mechanism”
While Jordan has always been involved with football, he had to stop playing due to an injury. Being out of the sport led to a decline in his mental health, which encouraged him to get involved again and start coaching.
“I only became a coach because my mental health wasn’t great,” he explained. “It gives me that little bit of escape on a Saturday or a Thursday.”
Jordan acknowledged the negative image which football can have, although was quick to dispel that myth. “Football’s meant to be this big scary man’s game. But what I’ve learnt managing 20+ people; we’re all a pile of softies”, he admitted.
Through his role as manager, Jordan has a close relationship with the players and is able to help anybody who is struggling, both on and off the pitch. He described that: “I always tell the players that they can come talk to me at any point.”
“If I even get a sniff of a player not feeling great”, he said, “I’ll have a chat with them and go have a coffee.”
“Being around the lads and being around the team - it’s a good buzz. They’re always there when I need picked up and I’m always there whenever they need picked up.”
Jordan made clear that anybody is welcome to come along to practice. The club train every Thursday at the Joey Dunlop Centre, from 8pm to 10pm. “We have people who train with us who just want to get fit. You don’t have to be signed for the football team to be involved”, he explained.
Most importantly, Jordan wanted to highlight the positive impact which football can bring for anybody who is living with a mental health problem:
“Say you’re having a bad day on a Friday at work, you know tomorrow morning you’re getting up bright and early with the boys and you’re going down to football”.
