Physical activity on mental wellbeing in senior English Premier League soccer players during the COVID-19 pandemic and the lockdown.

Grimson, Sophie; Brickley, Gary; Smeeton, Nicholas J; Abbott, Will; Brett, Adam

The COVID-19 pandemic and the subsequent lockdown created new stressors that could potentially attenuate mental wellbeing (MW) in athletes, who are already susceptible to poor MW. This study aims to describe fluctuations to MW during 'lockdown' and subsequent 'return to sport' protocols, in comparison to the normal 'in-season' in professional soccer.Twenty-five English Premier League (EPL) soccer players completed the Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Wellbeing Scale (WEMWBS) every two weeks, during the 2019/2020 season, and every week during 'lockdown' and 'return to training' for 28 weeks. The duration of each physical activity (PA) session completed was recorded. No significant differences were found for MW between time points (In-season, lockdown, return to training, and the restart) (51.5±5.6 vs. 50.7±4.8 vs. 50.8±5.7 vs. 50.7±5.6 (p >0.05)) respectively. Individually, differences were identified; in-season weekly session duration (243±38 min) was higher than during lockdown (180±62 min) (p <0.05). During lockdown, weekly MW scores were related to the previous 7-day number of sessions (r = 0.151) and active min (r = 0.142) (p <0.05). Furthermore, participants that exercised >250 min in lockdown, had higher MW scores (52.46 ± 4.65) than <250 min (50.35±6.55) (p <0.05). MW responses to lockdown were best understood on an individual basis. Additionally, PA only had a measurable effect on MW when >250 min. Further, stressors imposed upon players during an EPL season, are potentially greater than those inflicted by the lockdown. Implications for monitoring MW in EPL soccer players and the potential inclusion of an in-season break are discussed.