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Insight: April 11 / 18

Insight hears from Lauren Jackson, Barry Hall, Libby Trickett, Matthew Mitcham about their struggles after sport.

Insight features a special two-part edition hearing from sports champions about their struggles after sport.

Guests include Lauren Jackson, Barry Hall, Libby Trickett, Matthew Mitcham and more.

Basketball great, Lauren Jackson, and former Sydney Swans captain, Barry Hall, both reveal their struggles with mental health and wellbeing since retiring from professional sport on a special two-part edition of SBS’s Insight program.

Speaking with host Jenny Brockie, Jackson compared the period of time immediately following her retirement to being “put out to pasture”.

“When I retired, it’s really interesting; it felt like I was put out to pasture. Literally, I’d been one of their greatest resources … and then all of a sudden it was over, you don’t hear from them.”

Jackson also revealed she was on antidepressants while playing basketball and credits her family for supporting her through the difficult period.

“I was on antidepressants during my career, so getting off all that stuff, I just didn’t have that support [from sporting organisations].

“I did go into a shell. I stayed with my parents, I didn’t leave the house, and they really just took care of me … Without them I, you know, I hate to think what would have happened.”

Jackson joins a cast of sporting champions, including fellow Olympians Libby Trickett, Matthew Mitcham, Jana Pittman and some of Australia’s most elite professional sports stars, as they share their experiences of life after sport with a room full of Australia’s future athletes.

Barry Hall also shares his experience with depression with the Insight audience. For “two or three months” after he chose to end his career in 2011, Hall says he “really struggled”.

“I didn’t get out of bed, I didn’t answer mates’ phone calls, I was eating terribly, I was drinking heavily. It was a tough time,” the former All Australian Team captain says.

“I didn’t know anything about [depression] because, you know, we’re big tough burly men who don’t get depressed.”

The public nature of their lives makes struggling with change and transition a unique challenge for our sporting heroes. This week on Insight, champions come together to share laughs, tears, and their stories.

Guests include:

Lauren Jackson, former WNBA and WNBL basketball player
“Without [my parents] I hate to think what would have happened.”

Barry Hall, former Sydney Swans captain
“I used to do three extra [training] sessions a week … just to get a mental edge that I thought I could gain. Once that was gone, I was finished.”

Libby Trickett, former Olympic swimmer
“As athletes … we have our routine set. And then when you get into retirement … you have to make your own routine and that’s something that was so foreign to me.”

Matthew Mitcham, former Olympic diver
“My self-worth ended up being reflected in the judges’ scores. If I got an eight, they liked me. If I got a nine, they really liked me. And if I got a ten, I was perfect.”

Jana Pittman, former Olympic hurdler
“I can’t let go because that elusive gold medal never happened.”

PJ Marsh, former State of Origin NRL footballer
“My Plan B and C and D was all the same. It was Plan A: Playing in the Winfield Cup.”

Jake Edwards, former AFL footballer (Carlton)
“[My goal was to play] a hundred games of AFL, because anything below that was a fail. Just given the fact of my Dad and everyone before me had played a hundred games.”

Justin Clarke, former AFL footballer (Brisbane Lions)
“One second I was a footballer and loving it and that was where I wanted to be and next thing, bang, I was completely out.”

8.30pm, Tuesday 11 and 18 April on SBS.

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