SE: K-State Baseball to Host Mental Health Awareness Game Tuesday
May 07, 2019 | Baseball, Sports Extra
By Corbin McGuire
K-State baseball will play its final midweek game of the season against Texas Southern on Tuesday at 3 p.m. It's a chance for the Wildcats to end their non-conference schedule on a five-game win streak, but it's more than that. And bigger than that.
It will be K-State's first ever Mental Health Awareness game.
Players will wear green shoelaces, wrist bands and athletic tape, the color associated with mental health awareness. Green wristbands will also be handed out at the game that read: "It's okay to not be okay." Fans are even encouraged to wear green to show their support for the game's cause.
"We just really want to express how important it is and bring awareness to mental health," K-State senior pitcher and Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) representative Brogan Heinen said, "because it's important in everybody's lives and it's relevant to everybody, every day."
Pamphlets on mental health will be available at the game from Katie's Way, a local organization that provides mental health care to youth and young adults, as well as from Counseling Services on campus.
"We want to provide not only a place (like Katie's way) that fans can go to if they are struggling but also spread the word and get awareness out that there are places you can go to if you're struggling," Heinen said. "On top of that, we just want to let people know mental health is relevant in everyone's lives, including us as athletes, coaches, so I think getting the word out that everyone is important, everyone struggles with their mental health every day and letting everyone know that there's ways to get through it is a big part of it."
Statistics like 1 in 5 adults in the United States experience a mental illness and that suicide is the third-leading cause of death for student-athletes and the second-leading cause for all college students will be read off between innings to hammer home this point.
K-State student-athletes, aware of their platform in the community, want to use those statistics to help erase a stigma around mental health. They want to let fans know it affects everyone, it should not be ignored for fear of what others might think and, in severe cases, that there's always someone to talk to.
"I feel like because K-State is such a huge student-athlete, student community, we realize that if we speak out about it, then we have a good chance of having other people speak about it and make them realize that it is important," K-State women's golfer Niamh McSherry, a SAAC representative, said. "We're using our platform in such a positive way to show that mental health is something that should be talked about.
"I hope (fans) walk away realizing that it's something we find very important to ourselves as student-athletes, and it's not just us we want to talk about, it's the whole K-State community."
The idea behind hosting a game like this started when Oklahoma held one last year in Norman. Heinen said K-State's SAAC has been working toward a mental health initiative for about the past year, ever since Anne Weese, Ph.D., became K-State's Director of Mental Wellness/Sport Psychology.
"I think Anne plays a huge role in (our mental health awareness) and just providing that safe space for the athletes," Heinen said. "There's ways to go talk to her and be anonymous. Anne's a great resource."
McSherry agreed.
"She's come to a lot of our meetings and been a great ambassador for speaking out about it, rather than just keeping it to ourselves," she said. "Everyone has mental health issues, whether it's with people they know or themselves. She's helped us realize that we can talk about it in these sorts of settings."
K-State baseball will play its final midweek game of the season against Texas Southern on Tuesday at 3 p.m. It's a chance for the Wildcats to end their non-conference schedule on a five-game win streak, but it's more than that. And bigger than that.
It will be K-State's first ever Mental Health Awareness game.
Players will wear green shoelaces, wrist bands and athletic tape, the color associated with mental health awareness. Green wristbands will also be handed out at the game that read: "It's okay to not be okay." Fans are even encouraged to wear green to show their support for the game's cause.
"We just really want to express how important it is and bring awareness to mental health," K-State senior pitcher and Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) representative Brogan Heinen said, "because it's important in everybody's lives and it's relevant to everybody, every day."
Pamphlets on mental health will be available at the game from Katie's Way, a local organization that provides mental health care to youth and young adults, as well as from Counseling Services on campus.
"We want to provide not only a place (like Katie's way) that fans can go to if they are struggling but also spread the word and get awareness out that there are places you can go to if you're struggling," Heinen said. "On top of that, we just want to let people know mental health is relevant in everyone's lives, including us as athletes, coaches, so I think getting the word out that everyone is important, everyone struggles with their mental health every day and letting everyone know that there's ways to get through it is a big part of it."
Statistics like 1 in 5 adults in the United States experience a mental illness and that suicide is the third-leading cause of death for student-athletes and the second-leading cause for all college students will be read off between innings to hammer home this point.
K-State student-athletes, aware of their platform in the community, want to use those statistics to help erase a stigma around mental health. They want to let fans know it affects everyone, it should not be ignored for fear of what others might think and, in severe cases, that there's always someone to talk to.
"I feel like because K-State is such a huge student-athlete, student community, we realize that if we speak out about it, then we have a good chance of having other people speak about it and make them realize that it is important," K-State women's golfer Niamh McSherry, a SAAC representative, said. "We're using our platform in such a positive way to show that mental health is something that should be talked about.
"I hope (fans) walk away realizing that it's something we find very important to ourselves as student-athletes, and it's not just us we want to talk about, it's the whole K-State community."
The idea behind hosting a game like this started when Oklahoma held one last year in Norman. Heinen said K-State's SAAC has been working toward a mental health initiative for about the past year, ever since Anne Weese, Ph.D., became K-State's Director of Mental Wellness/Sport Psychology.
"I think Anne plays a huge role in (our mental health awareness) and just providing that safe space for the athletes," Heinen said. "There's ways to go talk to her and be anonymous. Anne's a great resource."
McSherry agreed.
"She's come to a lot of our meetings and been a great ambassador for speaking out about it, rather than just keeping it to ourselves," she said. "Everyone has mental health issues, whether it's with people they know or themselves. She's helped us realize that we can talk about it in these sorts of settings."
Players Mentioned
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