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The intensity of an elite sports academy, focused on the academic and sports performance of 12- to 17-year-old boys, requires the highest standard of ethical responsibility – an assurance to parents that the effort to achieve greatness will not come as a result of psychological or physiological abuse or other practices that could do more harm than good. Thus, there is an elevated standard of student-athlete care that must be provided by quality professionals who are in non-sports, non-teaching positions, whose first responsibility is the health and welfare of the student-athlete. The Senior Officer-Social Affairs is responsible for fulfilling this role.
It is important to understand the separation between the role of the sports psychologist and the role of the Senior Officer-Social Affairs. Psychological assessment and services, as they relate to enhancing sports performance (the responsibilities of a sports psychologist), are located in the Performance Enhancement section under the Sports Science Department. The Senior Officer–Social Affairs, a qualified school psychological counselor, serves a purposefully separate function, which is the psychological support and counseling of students in general, with a focus on the overall health and well-being of the student-athlete as a whole, unrelated to his sport or academic performance. This function cannot be performed by a sports psychologist, who has an unintended but real conflict of interests – placing sports performance as the most important consideration.
The Senior Officer-Social Affairs is always available to counsel student-athletes. Assisting him in this responsibility, and further ensuring a focus on the general well-being of student-athletes, is an expert Student Development Consultant, appointed by the Director General.
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