July/August 2023 - 35

That memory is as fresh to me as the blood that poured
from that young athlete's head on that warm sunny
evening. To me, it represents the closeness that athletes
have to one another and the respect they have for each
other even if a player from an opposing team gets into
difficulty.
It was a little experience like that which stayed with
me throughout my time researching and working with
elite professional athletes and coaches from the world of
sport. Learning their feelings about why it's important to
forge unstoppable bonds within teams showed me that
coaches can always improve the dynamic within a group
of athletes. With every passing game, there will be a new
challenge to improve some aspect of the play. There will
always be someone within the team who needs to hold
their hand up and admit they got the last play wrong.
When the video analysis is completed there will always
be unspoken words of what should have been done in the
situation that was shown by the camera. This is true in
any team sport because behind every group of athletes is a
group of human beings. And the bigger the group the more
faults in the personalities.
Yet that's when empathy can glue individuals together.
Empathy is the ability to understand and share the
feelings of others around you. It demands that you are able
to put yourself in someone else's shoes and experience
their emotions, perspectives, and situations from their
point of view. Empathy helps us connect with others, build
relationships, and show compassion and support for those
around us. It is an important skill in both personal and
professional settings, and it plays a crucial role in effective
communication, conflict resolution, and teamwork.
Yet too many teams don't recognize it. Maybe that's
because they only see the flip side of its personality.
Because while empathy is generally considered
a positive quality, there are potential disadvantages
associated with it, particularly if it is not balanced with
other qualities as well.
These are:
1. Emotional Burnout - During this time you are
constantly feeling and experiencing other people's
emotions and it can be exhausting which can lead to
emotional burnout and so empaths may also be more
prone to anxiety, depression, and stress.
2. Bias - Empathy can also lead to biased decisionmaking,
particularly if it is not balanced with reason
and logic. If someone feels too much empathy for
a particular individual or group, they may make
decisions that benefit that person or group at the
expense of others.
3. Overidentification - Empathy can lead to overidentification
of someone else's emotions, which can
cause people to lose sight of their own needs and
feelings. This can lead to a lack of self-care and an
inability to set boundaries.
4. Manipulation - People who are skilled at
empathy can sometimes use it to manipulate
others. For example, a salesperson might use
their ability to empathize with a potential
customer to make a sale, even if the product isn't
in the customer's best interests
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July/August 2023

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