Cricket ACT has been running weekly sessions on mental health to prepare 13 Meteors players who will enter the Women's Big Bash League bubble for up to six weeks on Monday.
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Mental well being has been a key focus for Cricket Australia in developing the WBBL bubble, which will allow the competition to proceed entirely out of Sydney this season amidst the COVID-19 pandemic.
Each player will be given their own hotel room for the duration of the tournament. Multiple hotels have been booked out, and the bubble will act as a miniature village including on-site doctors and psychologists, plus a ping pong table, yoga room and a virtual golf simulator.
Competitors will only be allowed to leave their hotels for training, and playing games, the first four of which take place on Sunday, October 25.
The Meteors' welfare manager Leah Mirabella has been working closely with her players in the lead up to this year's bubble tournament, which veteran Erin Osborne said should prove a major help.
"Leah has been running weekly sessions all around resilience as well as coming up with a well being plan whilst we're in the hub," Osborne said.
"A lot of time and effort have been put into it. Cricket Australia has acknowledged that's a concern and an area that needs to be improved on.
"It's just more understanding where you're at as a person in the hub. It's identifying where your moods are and what behaviours are linked to those and what the solution is.
"It's unique for us, the ACT Meteors don't have our own Big Bash team so we're all spread out across a number of franchises.
"That's difficult at times but because we're all in one place we can still support each other."
Osborne will represent the Melbourne Stars for a fourth season this summer.
Meteors captain Angela Reakes is back at the Sydney Sixers, while Carly Leeson is to play her second season with the Melbourne Renegades alongside Maitlan Brown and replacement players Amy Yates and Rebecca Carter.
Olivia Porter and Gabby Sutcliffe (Sydney Thunder), Madeline Penna and Katie Mack (Adelaide Strikers), Erica Kershaw and Chloe Rafferty (Hobart Hurricanes), and Nicola Hancock (Brisbane Heat) round out the Meteors playing WBBL this season.
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"It's a growing part of sport, the awareness about mental health," Leeson said.
"Player development managers are there to hear all our problems, talk about anything in life, if we need to unload they're the person you go to.
"They've been very supportive in that regard."
James Buckley
James is a Queanbeyan boy enjoying his second stint at the Canberra Times, more than eight years on from his first. In between he's traveled the world, and spent time covering sport in Sydney.
James is a Queanbeyan boy enjoying his second stint at the Canberra Times, more than eight years on from his first. In between he's traveled the world, and spent time covering sport in Sydney.
