I caught something on the radio this morning about UK Sport (the governing body for all UK sports - think Olympics and Wimbledon) moving to a focus on 'Winning Well' - which means not just winning but ensuring the mental health of athletes and culture surrounding how we get to winning is taken into consideration too.
This 'new agenda' came into the spotlight a few days ago when that British Teenager was unable to cope with progressing up the levels in Wimbledon - John McEnroe came under quite a lot of criticism for saying just that, with lots of Twitter messages of support for the new teenage tennis star.
How did it come to this?
Not only snowflakes in sport but people being criticised for basically saying it like it is - she didn't have the mental strength to cope with the match she was in and she basically had a panic attack.
To my mind that was an entirely neutral comment - and I think she agreed with it, also it's entirely NORMAL - to suddenly be in a MASSVIE arena and have one of those 'Oh fuck' moments and well, just break down physically.
Then you get over it and get on with it, or you don't and someone tougher comes along.
The irony here is that McEnroe wasn't 'not caring' for the girl's mental well-being, he was simply pointing out she was lacking in a bit of mental strength - but it's as if everyone else jumps on the bandwagon and assumes she's a delicate young thing in need of protection and have to have their say about it.
This new focus is going to VERY strong in the Olympics, so expect a lot of 'virtual caring' but probably not a lot of medals - our lack of medals could well be an indicator of how much this culture of caring in sport has penetrated - it does kind of give you an excuse to 'not go to your limits' after all....
I think to win you need to be able start from a point of honesty, yet its seems sports being a place for snowflakes to virtue-signal instead.
NB I'm not at all against the idea that people in sport should have an OK time when they're training and competing, but sport is tough, there are going to be people who can't cope, that's competition.
And there's something just a bit odd about Sport being this forum for discussions about mental well-being - or maybe it's a sign that the millennials are finally taking control of the agenda and I'm just out of touch?