inside excellent life
If you think I always have to be the best, don’t come.
If for you the result is the most important thing, don’t come. If you’re going to yell at the referee every time you think he’s wrong, don’t come. If you can’t stand me being on the bench. Don’t come. And if you’re going to get angry every time I miss, don’t come. If you come, come to enjoy, to cheer. And to rest.
I just want to play happily. And to see you happy. Soccer is a game and we are stealing it from the children.
Since young Italian people, children and adolescents, no longer have the opportunity to play and do sports spontaneously in the oratory, in the street or in the gardens of the city and spend only two hours a week in school doing physical activity, the only way not to create sedentary people or people who are for too many hours of the day sitting at a desk or on the couch at home is necessary that municipal organizations, sports, schools, federations and parents build a network to overcome this very serious problem, which limits the development of young Italians.
How have young people changed?
“We used to go out of the house and play until dark. There was a sense of freedom that is unthinkable today. They have to be brought in to play sports and they have an hour. And they pay. And when you pay, everything changes. Just as parents have changed, covering for them when they make mistakes, defending them. A self-defensive behavior: they do it only to cover and defend their own limits as parents. Their own mistakes. Then you see things at 12, 13 that you can’t explain. Yes, the kids have changed and with them, inevitably, the sport has changed. And maybe this is the thing that pains me the most”.
Let’s read this text and try to understand that mental health even in sports is a topic to be addressed without hiding behind medals won and a machista culture or more simply behind the indifference of the “I don’t care” philosophy.
CHICAGO, Sept. 30, 2021 /PRNewswire/ – Hilinski’s Hope Foundation (H3H), founded by Mark and Kym Hilinski to honor the legacy of their son Tyler, today announced that 50+ schools around the country will be participating in the second annual College Football Mental Health Week. The week will focus on a series of mental health initiatives, beginning October 2, which will honor Tyler, those lost, and those suffering, and will culminate on October 9.
To date schools from around the country are participating including:
| • Baylor University | • Northwestern University | • University of Colorado-Boulder |
| • Brigham-Young University | • North Carolina State | • University of Dayton |
| • Claremont-Mudd-Scripps | • North Dakota State University | • University of Georgia |
| • Clemson University | • North Greenville University | • University of Massachusetts |
| • Drake University | • Northern Arizona University | • University of Miami |
| • Duquesne University | • Oklahoma State University | • University of Missouri |
| • Eastern Washington University | • Oregon State University | • University of Mississippi |
| • Florida State University | • Pomona College | • University of San Diego |
| • Georgetown University | • Sacramento State | • University of South Carolina |
| • Georgia Southern University | • Southern Methodist University | • University of South Florida |
| • Idaho State University | • Stanford University | • University of Southern California |
| • Kansas State University | • Stetson University | • University of Tennessee Knoxville |
| • Lamar University | • Stevenson University | • University of Utah |
| • Lehigh University | • Texas A&M | • University of Washington |
| • Liberty University | • Texas Tech University | • Washington State University |
| • Louisiana State University | • Tufts University | • West Virginia University |
| • Louisiana Tech University | • University of Alabama | • Whitworth University |
| • Mercyhurst University | • University of Arkansas | |
| • Middlebury College | • University of Arizona | |
| • Mississippi State University | • UC Berkeley | |
| • University of Buffalo |
“We are so honored that more than 50 schools nationwide will be participating in this year’s mental health awareness week,” said Mark Hilinski. “This year, more than ever, student-athlete mental health has been in the spotlight and while conversation around mental illness can be tough and even at times uncomfortable, it is absolutely critical for the overall health and well-being of our student-athletes. Throughout the last year, we’ve continued to see support from schools, fans, students and parents as they join us in the fight against mental illness and that is a major piece of the puzzle that will help destigmatize mental illness and increase mental health resources. We miss Tyler every single day, but we are grateful to know that what we are doing is making a difference and that he would be proud of us.”
“The College Football Playoff Foundation is happy to support Hilinski’s Hope during College Football Mental Health Week to eliminate stigma and increase mental health resources across the county,” said Britton Banowsky, Executive Director of College Football Playoff Foundation. “We see teachers and coaches often taking on responsibilities related to the basic needs of their students and student-athletes, and this includes mental health. We hope these mental health resources can make a difference in providing what they need to better support their students.”
Participating schools have committed to at least one of the following during the week: showcasing a lime green ribbon on all players helmets with a “3″ in the middle to honor Tyler Hilinski and remember those lost and those suffering in silence; encouraging students, parents, alumni, and fans to participate in showing solidarity, eliminating stigma around mental health by holding three fingers in the sky during the first play of the third quarter; participating in an internal assessment to evaluate how universities are following best practices in terms of mental health programs and include talks and trainings on campus for players, coaches, and staff.
Additionally, on Wednesday, Oct. 6 Hilinski’s Hope will host a mental health training open to student-athletes nationwide. Registration link: https://register.gotowebinar.com/register/7124947916045695501.
To learn more and/or get involved with Hilinski’s Hope Foundation please visit https://www.hilinskishope.org/cfb-mental-health-week.
Dear Parents,
To teach and coach you have to start from the characteristics of those who do the sport (the children) and not from those who teach it the coaches (so it is easier to work as they think football), the parents (who would like to see their children do the actions of the team they are fans of) and the managers (who want to win tournaments and consider the children as “little footballers”).
There is the eternal dilemma between preferring the egg today or the chicken tomorrow!
It’s a shame that children are the ones who suffer the consequences of this and are banned from growing up as people through sport, while they will learn that what matters is victory at all costs and that they are just a means to achieve the goals of the adults around them, who would like to educate them and who say they love them.
Knowledge takes place through movement: start walking again at least half an hour every day.
Do you want children to be able to play freely outside their own front door?
We are a parent and resident led movement restoring children’s freedom to play out in the streets and spaces where they live, for their health, happiness and sense of belonging. Here you’ll find all you need to start regular ‘playing out’ sessions on your street or other actions to spark change where you live. Also ideas, stories and inspiration gathered from people around the UK and beyond.
Children don’t play out like they used to, missing out on vital #physicalactivity, friendship, #community, freedom & independence. A growing movement of parents, residents and organisations is changing this and you can get involved. #playingout.
AS Roma now has a special team. Not Dzeko and Di Francesco, but a small team of children with special needs playing football. It’s called “Football Together” the project of Roma Cares, the charitable foundation of AS Roma with sport association Integrated Football Academy. At the end of the first three years, they have already doubled in children between 6 and 16 years with disabilities of varying degrees enrolled in the program that aims to convey a football program appropriate to them: they were30in 2015, when the idea became real thanks to the work of persons as Alberto Cei, sports psychologist and scientific manager of ” Football Together”, today the young are 60.”
Aspen Institute launched a model of sport development for children and adolescents based on the most recent research in this area with the aim to increase their involvement in sport. The goal is to change the sport culture centered on the early start to a single sport, suggesting the validity of a multi-sports even for future elite athletes. This initiative also aims to increase the number of young physically active that in recent years is narrowing significantly. The project, developed together with the most important sports organizations and worldwide company has been called Project Play – Reimagining Youth Sport in America.
![Fig. 6 Physical activity has long lasting benefits that affect all aspects of a child’s life and last into adulthood. (Courtesy of Aspen Institute Project Play) [Citation]](https://static1.squarespace.com/static/54b4319ee4b02eb93428f3d1/t/54bd6fd0e4b096702d4cc9a2/1421701074531/activity-life-cycle.jpg?format=2500w)
