HARRISBURG, Pa. (WHTM) – Going to school and playing sports can be tough for student-athletes, which is why state Rep. Mary Jo Daley (D-Montgomery) is proposing a new bill. are doing.
House Bill 1367 would require athletic coaches to undergo mental health awareness training to make student-athletes aware of available mental health resources in their schools and communities.
“It’s essential to stay in touch with the resources that give teachers and coaches the ability to do their jobs,” Daly says.
Mekkai Williams is a student at Temple University. He ended his athletic career with a knee injury and graduated from Hempfield High School.
“I had two surgeries and didn’t return to the field my senior season, but that was personal for me,” Williams said.
One study found that 18% of youth coaches are very confident in their ability to connect athletes to mental health resources.
For Red Lion head baseball coach Kevin Lawrence, talking to a group of boys about mental health can be a tricky task.
“The messages about mental health for teenage boys are incredibly bad,” Lawrence said.
The previous standard was “man up”.
“This message tells boys that you’re a man and you have to be okay, and it’s not okay to say it’s not okay,” Lawrence said.
Brynn Neid is a multi-sport athlete at York Suburban High School, but a knee injury last spring put an end to her lacrosse season and made life difficult.
“Everything I always knew disappeared in a matter of seconds,” Nied said.
It takes time for your body to recover, and it can lead to a damaged outlook on life.
“This time we thought differently,” Need said. “To tell you the truth, before I go back to normal, [pool]I struggled to see the light at the end of a very dark tunnel.”
