In Handbollskanalen’s article series on mental health, much has been about the players’ perspective. But how are the coaches actually doing? Handbollskanalen has spoken to Györis head coach Per Johansson, who believes that the coaching profession is both lonely and extremely mentally demanding.
– You never really feel good in the coaching profession, says Per Johansson in a candid interview.
While working on this series of articles, several people have testified, some of whom are not yet ready to talk openly about it, of mental health issues in handball. So far, Handbollskanalens article series has focused a lot on the players – how they are doing and what challenges they face. But how are the coaches actually doing? Described by some as ‘the loneliest profession there is’, coaches have a pressure on them that few others in the sporting world have.
Handbollskanalen made contact with Per Johansson, one of Sweden’s most respected coaches ever, who not only won a championship medal as the national team coach for Sweden, but also did something so unusual among Swedish coaches as winning the Champions League. Johansson was not only willing to stand up but also, in his words, “volunteer” to talk about mental health.
– You never really feel good in the coaching profession and there is always an imminent risk of ending up with mental health issues, at least temporary mental health issues, says Per Johansson to Handbollskanalen.
Johansson has worked for the biggest clubs
The 53-year-old, who has worked in clubs such as Rostov-Don (Russia), CSM Bucuresti (Romania) and now in Györi (Hungary), has extensive experience of working at the highest level.
– I have perhaps been in the four toughest environments you can be in, if you think of the three clubs and Montenegro as the national team coach. We have a profession where there is no nuance at all, and especially not in these countries that I mentioned. There is an expression in Romania called “wedding or funeral” and the environment is characterized by it all the time. If we win it’s good and if we lose it’s bad.
– These are environments where you can’t lose, where you can’t stand many losses during a season. In Györi we have played 26 games since I moved here (at the time of this interview) and apart from losing one game against Vipers over a doubleheader, the first loss came recently, our first in 26 games. And in environments where the requirements are to win, and preferably to win even before playing the match, you are constantly judged by the latest performance.
– This makes me think that there are few professions where you can feel so worthless and miserable one day only to feel okay the following week.
How do you feel after a win?
– When we succeed, it’s more of a relief that we didn’t lose. It is a strong feeling that can of course be satisfying for a very short time. But the losses or less-than-good performances go much deeper – and things can go really bad then. If you don’t realize that, you don’t take it seriously. You exaggerate the emotions when you lose, just like when you win, but you are judged every week and after every performance.
– When you write an article, you don’t have 5,000 people checking when you write the words, we have that in our profession. Therefore, you have to be clear about who you are, and for my own part, I have been hardened during the last seven or eight years in particular. But we coaches are adrenaline junkies too and all these things together make it not a healthy life at all.
– There is nothing healthy in being a coach, regardless of sport, at the level I am at.
How do you cope with all this?
– Hopefully you can rest in your team. We have a team with several Scandinavians, French, and Dutch players, and then it is easier to find a free zone in the team where we can at least take a hard look at what happened and try not to get caught up in the tornado of negativity that always happens. But if you’re going to be here, you need to be prepared to pay that price, and if you’re not, you won’t last long.
– Although I have become more cynical, it is not possible to be completely unaffected by it. Tipping into depression is ever-present and something you have to be very vigilant about. I try to exercise and read books, it’s really the only way I can disconnect from everything. This is a high risk job for mental and physical illness.
Have you ever experienced any level of mental health issues yourself?
– In 2010, I was very close to being burned out. We had a positive journey with the national team when we won a silver, so mental health issues does not always have to be linked to something negative. When you win and perform well, you like to push even harder – the body feels the fatigue and difficulties in a completely different way when you lose. Therefore, the European Championship 2010 taught me a lot. I pushed too hard and actually wanted to go home after the semi-final against Romania, but then Hans Vestberg (then head of the Swedish Handball Association, editor’s note) came there and we talked. It helped me a lot.
Tributes above all to three people who have helped him
The support available to coaches does not seem to be very widespread or present. Per Johansson says that he always made sure himself that he had support.
– I have had the privilege of having very good mentors and people around me. Like Ingemar Eriksson, who I could always talk to as long as he lived. Ingemar was the most important person to me outside of my family. I also often talk to “Tjolle” Ström (author, coach & trainer, editor’s note) and Anders Lundin (coach, trainer & lecturer), they are people I turn to if there are difficult situations and I may need to make difficult decisions.
– Then I have always tried to have someone close to me who is completely outside of sports. People who have helped me sort through thoughts of frustration and worthlessness, says Johansson, who has therefore had support in the clubs he has been in solely because he pushed for it himself.
Handball is, of course, results-oriented and often coaches and players are judged solely on the basis of what they perform on the field. And sometimes even a good performance is not enough if the team lost the match. When asked if you ever get feedback as a coach if you do something well, the 53-year-old answers with lightning speed:
– Very rarely. In the environment I’m in, it’s often good if you don’t hear anything and crap if you hear something. It relates to what I said earlier about weddings and funerals.
How strong do you have to be as a person and as a leader to cope with the pressure and mental strain that is constantly present for coaches at the highest level?
– You have to be extremely strong. I didn’t have that right from the start but I have been in many situations and experienced so much in the last seven years especially. In the end, you will hopefully become good at what you practice. Either you succumb or you become stronger mentally – without that I wouldn’t have been able to continue in these environments.
– But I have come to terms with the idea that if we lose two or three games in a row, I will probably be fired. I used to get stressed if there was a text late after a loss telling me to show up at the office with either the boss, the oligarch, or someone connected to the mayor, but I don’t anymore.
How important is it to have a boss with whom you can talk openly?
– The best boss I ever had was Jeroen Bijl, technical director of the Dutch handball federation. I could show myself weak to him, be the little seven-year-old. I am extremely grateful for that and it was also the biggest fault in leaving as national team coach, that it was a betrayal of him.
– Other than that, I haven’t had bosses that I can talk to in that way, at least not in the last seven or eight years. But I think it’s incredibly important to have it – a good boss can snap at you when it’s necessary and listen when the situation calls for it. That is what leadership is.
I think I’ve read or heard an interview with you at some point where you put it like being a coach is self-torture. Care to elaborate on what you meant by that?
– At least I have said that it is eternal suffering. I don’t know if I can speak for more than myself, but the suffering, all the doubts and doubts are always there. Then there are those moments where you really feel happy and at peace and think you’re pretty good. They are in the minority, but they are the ones you hunt.
When was the last time you felt that way?
– When we won the Champions Leauge with Györi. Sometimes you wonder what drives you, but it’s winning something big. Whatever happens now, we won the Champions League, which in my opinion is the biggest thing to win after the Olympics. Now I have that title and it creates a little peace. I will always be remembered because I was the one who brought back the CL title to Györi after five years – no one can take that away from me, says Per Johansson and concludes.
– It was the same feeling when we won EC silver with the Swedish ladies. Or the U21 gold in 2003. So maybe I should feel more that I’m extremely privileged to have the job I have, I’m too bad at feeling that.