The Elora Mohawks Junior B lacrosse team hosted a combined skills clinic and mental health awareness event for local minor lacrosse players on June 15 at the Elora Community Centre.
The event was held to honour the memory of Elora Mohawk teammate Steven Hutchison, who took his life in February.
“We’re not letting this happen again,” said Ryan Johnston, speaking on behalf of the team.
While much of the day was about the sport of lacrosse, including a two-hour skills clinic lead by the Junior B players, the emphasis on the day was about giving young athletes a sense of community and camaraderie, including a barbecue before the mental health presentation.
Addressing the youths present, Johnston told the audience that the Elora Mohawks want to have a greater presence in the community, being more accessible to the kids coming up in their sport.
To do that, Johnston said his teammates were pledging to be accessible to any fellow lacrosse players, as a safe place to talk about their problems, whether they are issues around school, Sports or relationships.
“If you need it (help), reach out for it,” he said. “Come to us.” He added, of his teammates, “Somebody is there at all times.”
Johnston acknowledged that in lacrosse, athletes are taught to be tough, but he pointed out that admitting there was a problem didn’t make anyone less tough. Ending the stigma of mental health, he explained, could save a life.
Speaking of his friend Hutchison, known as “Hutch”, he described a teammate who was fun and regularly laughing.
“A lot of us never knew …” Johnston said. “So that’s what we want you to know – talk to us about it … there is always help.” He told the audience that being on a team means “you’re all there for each other.”
Following his talk, Nicole Bauman, a friend of Hutchison’s family, also spoke, telling the crowd, “Steve wore a mask.”
She spoke to his role as a teammate, a popular person with a lot of friends and someone with a family who loved him.
Her message was simple: “It’s okay to take off your mask.”
She added, “Today I am asking you to help fight that stigma … It’s our job to fight the stigma.”
Bauman spoke to the importance of teammates to work together to support one another.
“Steve made a difference in our lives and he’s still making a difference,” she said.
Myrna Hutchison, Steven’s mother, was the final speaker. She was pleased by the turn out and the support for the Get In Touch For Hutch movement that has begun to raise funds for mental health issues.
Talking to the younger players, she said, “These guys are here for one another and they’re here for their community, which is all of you.”
Speaking of her son, Hutchison said, “Steve wanted to be perfect.”
She pointed to his sense of achievement in Sports, in school and even as a son.
But she reminded the group that, “There is always another girl, another game, another test … There is somebody always in this world who loves you.”
She asked the athletes to remember to “take care of yourself first.”
She spoke to the Get In Touch for Hutch race and silent auction set for June 29, at the Arthur and Area Community Centre, which will go to support three mental organizations, including the Kids Help Phone, www.wesforyouthonline.ca and Canadian Mental Health Association’s Youth Engagement Projects.
After thanking the Mohawks for their support, Hutchison was presented with an autographed ball from her son’s teammates.
Following the presentations, each player was handed a monographed lacrosse ball with Steve’s number 44 and his initials, with a bracelet that read, “SH44-Family is forever”.
For more information on the Get in Touch for Hutch event at 10am on June 29 visit www.getintouchforhutch.com. Race day registration is still available (arrive early).
