Volleyball Partners with Hilinski's Hope for Mental Health "Green" Game
Nov 7, 2018 | Women's Volleyball
NEW ORLEANS – The Tulane volleyball team is set to host its Mental Health "green" game on Friday at 7 p.m. at Avron B. Fogelman Arena in the Devlin Fieldhouse, matching up against Temple as the Green Wave strive for their 10th consecutive conference win.
In an effort to generate conversations regarding the importance of mental health, Tulane will partner with Hilinski's Hope (H3H), a non-profit foundation dedicated to promoting mental health awareness among student-athletes.
The foundation was started in the name of Tyler Hilinski, a quarterback at Washington State University who died by suicide in January 2018.
"We are grateful for the opportunity to support the mental health and wellness of [Tulane's] student-athletes," said Kym Hilinski, Tyler's mother and Hilinski's Hope's founder. "The mission of Hilinski's Hope is to educate, advocate and remove the stigma associated with mental illness while funding programs that provide student-athletes with tools to support their mental health and wellness."
Senior libero and Tulane Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) vice president Lisa Mordell recognizes the stigma that pairs mental illness with weakness and hopes initiating campaigns like this will reinforce the fact that mental and physical issues deserve the same amount of treatment.
"By hosting these 'green' games and raising mental health awareness, we are finally letting our athletes and peers know that it's okay to not be okay," Mordell said. "Hilinski's Hope's mission is to reach these exact student-athletes that we are targeting in the #POW6RFULMINDS campaign."
Hilinski's Hope wristbands will be given to the first 150 Green Wave fans at Tulane's Friday-night match.
Learn more about the Hilinski's Hope Foundation and its mission here.
"As athletes, we have always been told that we cannot show any signs of weakness and that we need to be mentally tough," Mordell added. "But this is just causing an already intense stigma regarding mental health to become worse. I am so excited that we will be able to combine our resources and passion with H3H for this topic to really make a difference at Tulane and hopefully across a great population as well."
Single-game tickets can be purchased by calling 504-861-WAVE (9283), logging into TulaneTix.com or visiting the ticket office at the James W. Wilson Jr. Center.
Follow Tulane volleyball on social media at @GreenWaveVB on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. Follow Tulane Athletics on Twitter, FacebookÂ, Instagram.
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