Kirsty speaks at “ADHD and Neurodiversity: Strategies for Sports Coaching”

On Monday 23rd June I had the fantastic opportunity to talk at the “ADHD and Neurodiversity: Strategies for Sports Coaching” event, alongside Dr Josie Perry, Annasley Park and Dr Iain Simpson.

Throughout the day the talks covered:

• The benefits of neurodiversity in sport.

• Challenges that may manifest in sport when an athlete has ADHD.

• How coaches can better support neurodivergent athletes.

• ADHD medication side effects, and the considerations needed in sport.

• Different tools and strategies neurodivergent athletes can use.

For more on these topics, check out:

• What every coach needs to know about ADHD & athletes

• How can you support the mental health and performance of athletes with ADHD?

• What do you need to know about ADHD medication and sport?

From left to right: Kirsty, Josie, Iain and Annasley

During my panel session, I discussed my experiences as an individual with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and autism spectrum disorder (ASD) competing in sub-elite level sport. I focused on my experiences of playing county cricket as an adolescent prior to my diagnoses and my more recent experiences of playing county level golf as an adult after my diagnoses of ADHD & ASD.

Some of the things that Iain and I discussed included:

• How I came to be diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in my early 20s.

• How my parents supported me to manage playing sport growing up prior to my diagnoses, countering the challenges of my conditions.

• How sport allowed me and my parents to manage my excess energy growing up.

• That my outward emotions and reactions in sport may not match how I am feeling inside, so it may not appear that I take things seriously.

• The difficulties I have with following verbal instructions from coaches.

• Challenges understanding the “unwritten rules” of trials. 

• How my conditions may help to explain why I have transitioned from team sports to more individual sports.

• The challenges I have had with the social expectations of sport.

• Challenges of going away to play sport.

• How I may approach playing sport differently because of my neurodivergent brain .

Left: Me playing county cricket as an adolescent. Right: Me recently playing county golf

The experiences that I have had in sport have been a significant contributor to me  designing and conducting a PhD on ADHD and athletes in collaboration with Dr Allan Johnston and Sam Cumming at the UK Sports Institute, and Stuart Murphy and Sophie Smith-Moore at England Disability cricket, with the supervision of Professor Jennifer Cumming, Dr Mary Quinton and Professor Joht Singh Chandan.

Overall, it was a great day with a really engaging audience, and fantastic discussions!  

To keep up to date please connect with me on LinkedIn: @kirstykrb or drop me an email krb700@student.bham.ac.uk for updates. I am also recruiting parents of athletes to be advisors on this PhD. Please reach out to me if you are interested.

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Written by Kirsty Brown