Posted by Michele Olson
thinkmarriage.org is headquartered in Green Bay, Wisconsin. We say Green Bay, you say
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Yes! you are correct. The Green Bay Packers…the name that puts our town on the map. When you live here, even if you don’t like football, it becomes infused into your life in one way or another. Add in the size of our city, long winters and a long tradition with a hallowed team and you could say we are all about football.
The sad news is, the rate of divorce for N. F. L . players is between 60 and 80 percent! Higher than the general population but comparative to athletes in other sports according to a recent New York Times article by Greg Bishop.
Just like the general population, football players face the day to day challenges of marriage. On top of that they also face larger than life salaries, groupies, fame and the fact that all this is happening to young men who don’t often have the maturity level or life experience to handle it.
Those players getting older are often faced with life after all the fame and money which can also take a toll on marital relationships. Then there are the emotions and roller coaster life of the spouse and children involved.
While many first recommendations may jump to counseling, we would like to propose that NFL and other sports teams adopt healthy relationship and marriage education as a part of their training. Communication and conflict resolution skills work for single players, seriously dating, engaged and married men. We also have programs that would integrate the whole family, including step families. The whole organization would benefit from staff learning interpersonal skills as “teammates” and employees at the same time.
What a win-win for every team!
Do you have any connections to a professional sports team and you’d like to know more of what we could bring to the table? Let’s talk!
The sad news is, the rate of divorce for N. F. L . players is between 60 and 80 percent! Higher than the general population but comparative to athletes in other sports according to a recent New York Times article by Greg Bishop.
Just like the general population, football players face the day to day challenges of marriage. On top of that they also face larger than life salaries, groupies, fame and the fact that all this is happening to young men who don’t often have the maturity level or life experience to handle it.
Those players getting older are often faced with life after all the fame and money which can also take a toll on marital relationships. Then there are the emotions and roller coaster life of the spouse and children involved.
While many first recommendations may jump to counseling, we would like to propose that NFL and other sports teams adopt healthy relationship and marriage education as a part of their training. Communication and conflict resolution skills work for single players, seriously dating, engaged and married men. We also have programs that would integrate the whole family, including step families. The whole organization would benefit from staff learning interpersonal skills as “teammates” and employees at the same time.
What a win-win for every team!
Do you have any connections to a professional sports team and you’d like to know more of what we could bring to the table? Let’s talk!
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2 comments:
Uh oh- I am from MN- please don't hate me . . .
Thank you for your website and blog. I have enjoyed it so far and look forward to learning more!
Hi Taryn..
We don't hate you! :) This will be an interesting year right? The most important thing is healthy realtionships amidst our healthy footbal rivalry...when that happens we all win. Thanks for blogging and please keep it up!
Michele
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