Ruud den Hartigh: 'Top sport is a like an arena of stress.'

Heavy training, setbacks and pressure to perform. Elite athletes have to deal with all kinds of stressors, both physical and mental. To continue performing, an athlete must be able to recover well from such a stressor. If this does not happen, injuries but also mental problems are lurking. But how do you measure someone's resilience and what can non-athletes learn from the resilience of elite athletes? Ruud den Hartigh and Wouter Frencken will tell you about this in one of the four public lectures during the Week voor Meer Gezonde Jaren.

Research on resilience
Central to the lecture is the ZonMw project that Ruud den Hartigh, Senior Lecturer in Talent Development & Creativity and Wouter Frencken, Manager of Top Sport Development at FC Groningen, are carrying out at FC Groningen. By collecting and analyzing data about their physical and mental condition they try to measure the resilience of athletes and try to intervene when they see that things seem to be going in the wrong direction. According to Den Hartigh, top sport is the perfect place to do this research. 'Top sport is a kind of arena of stress, where everything comes together. The perfect place to measure the effect of stressors.'

The public lecture: Resilience in top sport by Ruud den Hartigh and Wouter Frencken will be held on Thursday, October 7 in Pathé Groningen. It is part of the Week for More Healthy Years and is free to attend.