When Kent State hosts Ball State Saturday at noon at Dix Stadium, it won’t just be a MAC football game between two hungry football teams. It will also be Mental Health Awareness Day. The game will be used to spread awareness about mental health, provide resources and further break down the stigma regarding it.
In collegiate athletics the pressure can be immense on the student athletes. In some cases, the student athlete may be the first one in their family to even attend college. The pressure the athlete feels to succeed for their family, their hometown or region can be strong. Throw in NIL, and now people gambling on games, all these things can contribute to stress and ultimately poor mental health.
Mental health impacts everyone, young or old, men and women. And it doesn’t matter how successful you are or how happy one may seem. It does not discriminate.
With young men and men of all ages, the stigma is real. Men are supposed to be strong, tough, never show any weakness, keep it inside, all of that. But the reality is mental health is just like physical health. You need to take care of it. If you broke your arm, you would go to the hospital.
Kent State Head Coach Kenni Burns is hoping to use Saturday to break down the barriers regarding mental health.
“Mental Health is something that I think is really undervalued in college athletics, and in any athletics really,” Burns told Dane Richardson on Flash Talk. “It’s something that’s dear to me and my wife’s heart. It’s something that we’ve always been a fan of and helping spread and making people understand it and the importance of it.
“It’s something that we talk about with our team all the time about being open about that. As a grown man who’s been 40 years old, I still have issues with mental health at times, I think that’s not uncommon and I think learning how to utilize your resources and develop strength there is really important and being a complete student athlete. So we’re all for it, we encourage everyone coming out to support mental health and awareness and we’ll be there.”