A FORMER county cricketer is making a difference in the field of mental health, preparing young athletes for their future careers.

Callum Lea, who was in the youth system with Worcestershire until he left the game after being unable to win a full-time deal at New Road, has become the founder of Sporting Minds UK.

The organisation helps young athletes tackle mental health issues and find support in dealing with the pressures of sporting life.

Speaking to the Press Association, he said: “A lot of youngsters place footballers and other sportsmen on a pedestal or assume everything is fine with them, but there are huge pressures.

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“When it’s your childhood ambition you can get sucked in, you get this romanticised relationship with sport, that you’re destined to go pro, but when you’re 16, 17, 18 you slowly realise how rough it is.

“Cricket was essentially the biggest part of my character growing up, but looking back I didn’t put enough thought into how realistic it was to be a professional player, how low the percentage is of those who make it.

“When my cricket went badly I started to think my life was going badly and I feel now I’d have been better able to go through my mental health issues if my identity wasn’t solely built around cricket.”

Lea was involved in the Worcestershire set-up from the age of 10, earning a cricket scholarship at Malvern College.

Despite this, he was released by the county in 2019 amidst his own battle with an unrelated mental health issue.

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He is combining his work with Sporting Minds UK with his work studying for a degree in philosophy and politics at Oxford Brookes University.

Sporting Minds UK was chosen by the family of Jeremy Wisten, the Manchester City youth player who died aged just 18 last month, as their chosen charity for donations in his name.

The ongoing effects of coronavirus are likely to present the next challenge, with many younger sportsmen and women missing out on opportunities for progression due to diminished playing time and decreasing budgets.

For more information or to access one-to-one support, go to www.sportingmindsuk.org