It’s that time of year again and one of Simcoe County’s most popular on-ice events takes centre stage tonight for a great off-ice cause.
The Start Talking Cup takes the ice at 6 p.m. tonight at the Barrie Molson Centre as the Canadian Mental Health Association (CMHA) Simcoe County Branch presents its fourth annual campaign to raise awareness and funds for mental health. Liz Grummett is the CMHASCB manager of resource development, stewardship and events and admits that while the event is a pretty big thing to organize, it’s something that they all look forward to doing.
“It gets easier every year,” said Grummett. “When it gets too hectic or someone on the team starts getting overloaded, it’s real easy to pull back and remember why we’re doing it; to shine a little light on mental health and youth.”
The event was started back in 2015 by Jim Harris and John Kelly of the CMHA as a way to take one of the region’s and country’s most popular sports and use it to draw in crowds where the goal was education and support for one of the area’s most troubling teen problems. Grummett knows that just a few hockey games needed to have something more that the families and teams involved could take away.
“We have two counsellors that head out to meet with the players after practice and talk about issues that may be concerning kids their age and even ask what may be troubling them personally. There are meetings with parents and players and then one with just the players; we find that kids are more likely to talk without their families around and we want them to be open and feel comfortable. It has been working wonderfully and we have seen many kids open up and have heard some great stories of family discussions taking place after these events and talks.”
Each year teams from leagues around the region compete for not just a trophy, but also regular season points. Tonight at 6:45pm the Barrie Sharks Bantam AA squad will take on the Aurora Panthers in girl’s action while the boy’s Barrie Colts Minor Midget AAA team will host rival North Central Predators at 8:15pm.
The 2017 version of the event took place on a Sunday and raised approximately $15,000 and saw very successful growth in the social media presence. Grummett watches the online activity of the STC nights and says that as far as the awareness side of things, it has been better than the organizers could have hoped for and says that while it was a success they realized that a return to the weekday format was needed and expects a bigger crowd
“I’m so happy at how this event has got people talking about the once silent conversation of mental health,” said Grummett. “Believe it or not there has been a real shift in the way kids think when it comes to this topic; they are more mature and actually willing to listen and take it seriously. One of our proudest results is that of having teams actually contact us after these events and say that they want us to come in and chat with the team or a player; that they really learned a lot and wanted to continue the discussion. That tells us it is working and lights that fire under us to keep it going. Going back to a weekday isn’t really for any other reason than we feel that folks will be more likely to come out looking for something to help with and watch. It fits the majority of our family’s schedules and having kids and their parents coming out is a main goal here.”
The Pongo family won’t be missing it as Alexa Pongo suits up for the Barrie Sharks bantam AA team. The centre has playing hockey for nine years and despite her young 14 years of age; Pongo is overjoyed and honoured to be playing in this 2018 STC and isn’t taking the event lightly.
“I think the Start Talking Cup is a fantastic event and I’m so grateful I can participate in it,” said Pongo. “The event is all about raising awareness and letting people know that it is ok to talk about your mental health. I think that talking about your mental health shouldn’t be frowned upon. The fact is, mental health isn’t something you’re affected by, it’s something everyone has. I think this event is fantastic to help teach and aid people about mental health.”
While there is a serious topic to be dealt with tonight, Pongo is just like a lot of Canadian kids and is in love with the sport of hockey. Pongo is happy that women’s hockey is becoming more and more popular in mainstream media and the fact that representatives of the Canadian Women’s Hockey League will be on-hand tonight is even more exciting for the girls who take the ice.
“I love the speed of the game, you always have to be on your toes and in the blink of an eye the puck could be going the opposite direction,” said Pongo. “I also love the teamwork involved in the sport; hockey gives me the opportunity to make new friends and work as a team. It is so exciting to see that women’s hockey is being respected more and more every year. Girl’s hockey provides a chance for girls to become leaders and be a part of the community in which I play and I think it is important that girls hockey continues to grow and be respected like it has in the past decade because it is an amazing game and girls should have the opportunity to play and even continue to make a career out of the sport they love.”
Doors open tonight at 6pm and tickets are $5. For more information check out the website.
