I wanted to centre my project around a professional sportsman and their experiences with dealing with poor mental health. Throughout my research, a name that kept cropping up was ex-Norwich City, Crystal Palace and Coventry City striker Leon McKenzie.
After Wales manager Gary Speed passed away in 2011, McKenzie took the brave decision to begin to travel around the country and share his story. The ex-pro has had to live with depression for a large part of his life, and even attempted suicide after an injury setback whilst playing for Charlton in December 2011.
Leon was incredibly open about his struggles throughout the interview, and his heart-breaking recount of his story will rightly be placed at the forefront of my project.
When questioned about his silence following his suicide attempt, Leon admitted he didn't feel capable of sharing what he was experiencing with anyone: "If I speak, will that now mess up my chances of being in the team, is it going to mess up my career or my life? So that’s why you find a lot of people reluctant. The ‘old school set-up’ would find that as a way of being weak, so you don’t want to show that weakness."
To find out what else Leon told me about his battle with mental health, check out my completed project - coming in mid-December!