Who is Lucy Bronze?
Lucy Bronze MBE is a professional Women’s Footballer who plays as a right back for Chelsea and England.
She has also played for clubs such as FC Barcelona, Lyon, Liverpool and Manchester City. She is a five time UEFA Champions League winner, eight league trophies and won the Euros with England back in 2022.
Bronze has won countless awards such as BBC Women’s Footballer of the Year, UEFA Women’s Player of the Year, Globe Soccer Award for Women’s Best Player and The Best FIFA Women’s Player.
She has also been named in Men in Blazers’ top 100 footballers of all time, and has been given the title of “the best player in the world” by former Manchester United and England defender Phil Neville.
She has made over 125 senior appearances for the Lionesses, and has made over 350 appearances for clubs in her whole career.
What is ADHD?
Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, also known as ADHD, is a neurological disorder that affects someone's behaviour. Globally, ADHD is diagnosed in around 5% of children, and 3-4% of adults. Some of the main symptoms of ADHD can include inattentiveness, hyperactivity and impulsiveness. ADHD is more commonly diagnosed in boys rather than girls, due to girls having a high tendency of only showing the inattentiveness side of symptoms, such as a small attention span and making frequent mistakes. The exact cause of ADHD is unknown, but it has shown to be a hereditary condition, as well as research showing possible differences within the brain when compared to those without the condition.
How can ADHD affect sports performances?
ADHD can affect sports performance as it can affect a players ability to listen, pay attention, focus or sometimes even find motivation and effort. However, ADHD can have a good impact on sport as increased dopamine levels can result in a newfound drive for athletes to train intensely and have a huge amount of motivation to achieve their goals. According to Dr. Andrew J. Cutler, M.D, who at the time worked as a sports physician and psychologist, the effects of ADHD on athletes can show up as what Cutler calls ‘TSI’ which stands for tired, spacey and irritable. This is mainly caused when athletes don’t look after themselves, especially their diet, in line with their training and gameplay. This is due to the brain running on oxygen and glucose, and not eating for long periods of time can cause the brain to start to fail, also known as hypoglycemia. Athletes can prevent this by understanding how their brain works and what specific way it is wired so that they can notice when this happens and nip it in the bud straight away to prevent any further distractions and keep their head in the game. It is also important to stay hydrated and eat filling but healthy meals. This is because the way oxygen and glucose gets to the brain is through blood, which is powered by water. Cutler also states that all sport is brilliant for those with ADHD as it teaches them internal discipline and motivation, which all stems from external discipline and motivation which is what sport can provide.
Lucy Bronze's ADHD Journey:
In an interview that I found on X, Bronze talked about being diagnosed with ADHD as an adult. She said that she was unaware of her ADHD and the signs her entire life, but she found out that the best form of medication for ADHD is exercise.
This leads Lucy to think that the reason why she has never been diagnosed is because so much of her energy has been fueled into football, meaning she had the ability to focus much more in school due to ‘self-medicating’ with sport. This can be linked back to Dr. Andrew J. Cutlers’ theory about sport teaching those with ADHD internal discipline and motivation.
Bronze has also been very open about her anxiety and loneliness growing up. This links to ADHD as studies suggest that people with ADHD are more prone to experience symptoms of anxiety, depression or any other mental health disorder than the average person. In an interview with England Football back in 2022, the defender talks about how she struggled being away from her family when she first went over to the United States at the age of 17, also saying that it was very different from her expectations and that she was a very shy child and she knew that was something she would have to work on so she could push herself in order to not end up in that lonely place that she didn't want to be in.
Bronze also talked about how her spells of loneliness and anxiety have gotten easier as she has gotten older, but when she was at University she had a knee injury which kept her out of football for a year. This resulted in the worst spell she had ever experienced, describing it as a really lonely time due to being in her first year of university and not having anyone around her.
Since former England player Claire Rafferty has spoken out about her ADHD, Wembley Stadium has introduced two sensory rooms in order to support those with sensory and mental health issues attending events at the stadium. This goes to show that guidelines are being put in place to help not only players, but fans who want to enjoy football but have disorders like ADHD. The full article on her experience with ADHD in sport can be found here.
If you would like to find any more information or access help for ADHD, here are some relevant links.
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