Warning: This article deals with discussions of mental health and suicide. If you or someone you know is struggling with their mental health or thoughts of harm, contact the Suicide Crisis Hotline at 9-8-8.
Local basketball players are hoping to cast a light onto the dark side of men’s mental health while remembering two former players who died following struggles with their mental health.
Cole Kowalski is one of the organizers of the Fort Frances Men’s Mental Health Memorial Basketball Tournament, who said the tournament came about after he and Justin Anderson travelled to a different event in the region.
“Justin Anderson and I went to a tournament in Kenora last year and that kind of sparked us wanting to do something here,” Kowalski said.
“He lost his brother [Will Anderson] who was a big basketball guy, and Joey Angus, I grew up my whole life playing basketball during school, so losing him was also kind of a big motivator for us.”
The tournament will take place at the Fort Frances High School gym April 11-13 with the exact schedule to be determined. For more information check out the Facebook page “Fort Frances Men’s Mental Health Memorial Basketball Tournament.”
The hope for the tournament is to raise funds and awareness for the different mental health programs available in the area.
“[We want to] bring more attention to the mental health outlets because there’s so many great services in the area,” Kowalski said. “I just feel like not a lot of guys hear about them or see them out in public. We just want to kind of provide an outlet and do something to have a really good, fun weekend too.”
Kowalski says that many of the players who play in area tournaments would have also played in tournaments with Anderson and Angus.
The tournament already has filled up with eight teams coming to play from across the region including Baudette, Kenora and Dryden among others.
The group will be holding a penny table and other draws to raise funds for local mental health organizations and several groups have been invited to host information tables for people to get more information.
Organizers are accepting donations for the penny table. Anyone looking to donate can contact them via Facebook on the event’s page.
Kowalski says they hope to be able to make the tournament an annual event.
“We really want to be able to continue to make this an annual thing, and with the support that we’ve had so far, we really feel good about being able to do it next year and continue that on,” he said.
