Raising awareness on the importance of mental health in sports

March 25, 2024

Video

Mental health struggles among athletes hasn’t always been a common conversation in the locker room. However, work is being done to help raise awareness and bring these issues — especially for student athletes — to the forefront.

While 1 in 5 U.S. adults say they struggle with a mental health issue each year, an increasing number of student athletes say they have more mental health concerns now than they did before the pandemic.

The mental health challenges facing youth in general is concerning enough to prompt the declaration of a national crisis, and urge an advisory from the U.S. surgeon general on the dangers of social media use on mental health.

As the presenting sponsor of this year’s Hockey Day Minnesota, it was a good opportunity to highlight the topic of mental health to an audience of student athletes.

As part of that sponsorship, Minnesota Wild’s former player Mark Parrish sat down with current Wild player Marcus Foligno to talk about the importance of mental health awareness in sports. Watch the full conversation below.

Minnesota Wild Marcus Foligno and Wild Alumni Mark Parrish talk about mental health

Video transcript

[UPBEAT MUSIC PLAYING]

[VIDEO OF A HOCKEY GAME]

ANNOUNCER VOICEOVER: They score! Marcus Foligno has Minnesota on the board!

[VIDEO OF MARK PARRISH AND MARCUS FOLIGNO SPEAKING ON SCREEN]

[Text On Screen – Mark Parrish, @MarkDParrish]

MARK PARRISH: Marcus Foligno, my old Buffalo training camp centerman. Now, correct me if I'm wrong.

[PHOTOGRAPH OF MARCUS AT BUFFALO TRAINING CAMP]

MARCUS FOLIGNO: First ever training camp for me.

MARK PARRISH: Now, was I your first ringer?

[PHOTOGRAPHS OF MARCUS ON THE ICE]

MARCUS FOLIGNO: Yeah, you were my first ringer, and we had got to the rink, and you were the first one to greet me with a, you had a coffee and a nice smile. And I was like, okay, it's going to be pretty good.

[Text On Screen – Marcus Foligno, Minnesota Wild Assistant Captain]

He’s not that intimidating. You remember your first training camp. It’s overwhelming, and your head's just spinning. But it was awesome meeting you then.

MARK PARRISH: Oh, it was, it was. Thank you. That's how I stay relevant now. I keep up with the new guys. I keep up with the young guys. We, my wife and I, have started a Parrish Family Fund, and we're talking about mental health. I like to get out and talk about what I'm going through, as a former player. I'm more interested, and a lot of people ask me about what current players are going through, the effect that you've had with people in the state.

[VIDEO OF FOLIGNO ON THE ICE, GREETING A FAN]

I hope you realize how much you've touched people around the state, the way you are and what you've given off the ice.

MARCUS FOLIGNO: I appreciate that. Thank you. No, it's been awesome being a part of this organization and more so a part of this community. I mean, you want to talk about the mental side of things, when you get traded, your world's kind of lifted upside down, and you're told to kind of scramble and get some new friends and be liked by the people you're getting welcomed into, a new team and organization. And lucky to be a Minnesota Wild and to have an effect off ice, as I do on the ice.

[VIDEO OF MARCUS PLAYING A HOCKEY GAME]

ANNOUNCER VOICEOVER: Foligno for the score. What an effort by Marcus Foligno.

MARK PARRISH: My generation was a little bit of the age of enlightenment, a little bit, when it came to concussions. We started to be a little more honest about it, we started to learn more about it. And through so, we've learned more about mental health. During my career, there was, at the tail end, teams started to bring in sports psychologists and psychiatrists, just to help out a little bit. And it was just kind of a couple times a year and just to kind of a check in, more or less. I'm wondering how that has evolved. How has that work evolved during your career?

MARCUS FOLIGNO: It’s evolved dramatically. You guys are kind of the ones that paved the way for it to be received in our league. You talk about concussions, and we play a physical sport, so it's just you get injured. You don't know how to deal with injuries. And when you're injured, you're away from the team. You kind of feel a little secluded and it kind of breaks you down a little bit. We talk a lot about mental health these days, and I think our league's done a pretty good job now, but it's great to see what's being done in our league. There's still more that we can do to help every person. The biggest thing that I always preach, and I think that we do a really good job here with our organization, and our team is kind of the open door concept, we want everyone to feel comfortable. We want everyone to be able to have a voice, and definitely fortunate to have the resources that we do now.

MARK PARRISH: And let's go a little further into that. Let's talk about what you guys just went through. You just went through a coaching change, and the emotions that that feels like. I know what it feels like, but how is that, going through it now?

MARCUS FOLIGNO: It’s tough. It's not easy. It's just trying to be there for your teammates and trying to get through it together. I think we were really positive through the whole situation.

[VIDEO OF WILDS COACH AND SCENES FROM A HOCKEY GAME]

I believe that positivity is the answer for a lot of things. If you want to be there at the end of the storm, I think being positive and fighting through it is the biggest thing. All storms come to an end, is what I'm told, and it seems like for us, personally, as a team, we're on the other side of that storm right now, and it's because of us sticking together.

[VIDEO OF MARCUS PLAYING A HOCKEY GAME]

ANNOUNCER VOICEOVER: Maroon to Foligno and he scores!

MARK PARRISH: It's easy to talk about the professional side, but there's a personal side in life, too, and there's things that come up in personal life. And I know you've lost your mom, and I apologize. I’m very sorry to hear that.

MARCUS FOLIGNO: Thank you.

MARK PARRISH: I don't think people realize that we're human, too, and there's issues that we have to deal with in season, while we're working, that we have to compartmentalize, which could be much more difficult to deal with, than necessarily a coaching change.

MARCUS FOLIGNO: I remember when my mom passed away, it was obviously very difficult, and I remember the next season playing for [INDISCERNIBLE] hockey wasn't fun. It was really tough to go to the rink.

[PHOTOGRAPHS OF MACUS AND HIS MOTHER]

And the game brought me so much joy, and it brought me so much joy because of her. She was the one that got me to the rink when it was freezing out. And I went through some really tough times and dark days. But you got to work through it and stay with it, and stay positive, and have faith too, and believe that you're playing this game for her, and how much joy that the game brought to my mom as well. I definitely play to this day, for my mom, every time I step on the ice.

[VIDEO OF MARCUS PLAYING A HOCKEY GAME]

ANNOUNCER VOICEOVER: Foligno scores!

MARK PARRISH: I know how much I lean on my wife. How important it is it to have a supporting cast when you're going through things like that?

[PHOTOGRAPHS OF MARCUS AND HIS WIFE AND CHILDREN]

MARCUS FOLIGNO: It’s huge. My wife, we've been together for a long time, and she's been with me since high school, pretty much. She's a great mother, a great wife. And that's another thing, too, that gets me through a lot of these seasons, is I wouldn't be able to play this game and raise a family and have a family, if it wasn't for her. And you talk about being strong and playing this game for a long time, well, it's a lot of credit due to her. So she's definitely an amazing person and someone that has helped me through my career, tremendously, to get me to this point.

MARK PARRISH: Well, Marcus, thank you so much for your time. Thank you for your vulnerability and talking about something that's not easy to discuss and having an open, honest conversation about it. Good luck the rest of this year, my friend.

MARCUS FOLIGNO: Thanks, man. I appreciate it. Thanks for having me.

[VIDEO OF MARCUS PLAYING A HOCKEY GAME]

ANNOUNCER VOICEOVER: Back to Foligno. He scores!

If you are the parent of a student athlete who could use support, or if you could use help with your own mental health, there are a number of tips and resources to help.

Mental health tips for student athletes

1. Find a support network

Having a solid group of teammates, friends, family and even mental health professionals to lean on when things get tough can go a long way in helping your mental well-being. Find people who you feel comfortable sharing your concerns with and know that it may be multiple people for each challenge, depending on your needs. Perhaps you can confide in your coach about how to cope with stress during the game, or vent to a teammate after a big loss. Connection can be crucial for coping.

2. Take a break from social media

While your social media network may be an engaging way to connect with teammates and friends, it can also serve as an unhealthy platform of negativity and criticism. Taking frequent breaks or setting time limits can help. You may also want to turn off notifications to avoid the temptation. Opt for in-person connection, instead.

3. Explore other experiences

Understand that while it can feel like sports is dominating your life, you’re still learning about yourself and who you want to be. Make time for other experiences that help expose you to something new — take an art class or make time to volunteer. It may help provide distraction and a breath of fresh air to your time as a competitor.

For more resources to help with mental health concerns, check out our Hockey Day Minnesota site.

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