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Expert Teammates Fill Health Roster
January 2, 2020
By Rob Kaminski
MHSAA benchmarks editor
Teamwork is a necessity in athletics. The MHSAA has put together the beginnings of a solid roster to combat mental health ailments throughout schools in the state.
Among the experts listed on the MHSAA Mental Health Speakers Bureau are Christy Buck, executive director, and Cat Lanting, program coordinator at the Mental Health Foundation of West Michigan; and Brooke Buys, mental and behavioral health specialist and founder of BLND Health. They already are serving MHSAA schools in various capacities.
Through personal appearances, promotional videos and staff availability, both organizations emphasize the same strategy when tackling mental health issues: recognition and treatment from within the school buildings and districts.
“We wanted to create self-starting kits that anyone in the district can implement,” said Lanting. “We have in-person trainings and opportunities for students to get together – students talking to students – for high schools and for middle schools.”
Lanting coordinates the be nice.® Action Plan, founded by Buck. The plan calls for people to “notice, invite, challenge and empower” when recognizing changes in those close to them.
“It’s an attractive statement, but the key to the action plan is that it’s transferable. It can work from the pre-K level to senior citizens,” she said. “We want people to notice change, invite people into the conversation, challenge stigmas, and empower themselves with knowledge surrounding mental health.”
Buys, meanwhile, is one of a team of behavioral health specialists delivering messages to student-athletes around the state. Many of her associates in BLND (pronounced “blend”) not only talk the talk, but have walked the walk as collegiate athletes.
“The best course of action for administrators, teachers, coaches is to strive to build and maintain trust with the student-athlete; have genuine, non-judgmental conversations to include open-ended questions and authentic concern,” said Buys, who played soccer at Kalamazoo College.
Both be nice.® and BLND staff members made appearances at schools this year to assist in promoting recognition. A 90-second video produced by be nice.® was included in all MHSAA online rules meetings this year, featuring endorsements from University of Michigan coaches Jim Harbaugh and Carol Hutchins and Michigan State University coaches Mark Dantonio and Tom Izzo.
“When our team met with Mark (Uyl) and some athletic directors in Spring 2019, the room was filled with people who have just started to recognize mental health as an issue. The challenge was to deliver a 90-second video promoting the be nice.® Action Plan with a quick turnaround so it was ready for the fall rules meetings,” said Lanting.
She encourages people to visit be nice.org and “take the be nice.® pledge.”
“be nice.® started in 2010, and when people first see it they think, ‘bullying prevention,’ but really it is an action plan that is evidence-based,” Lanting said. “The be nice.® Action Plan can be used anywhere – in the workplace, community organizations – but schools is where we started and where we are currently having the most impact.”
Connecting with the most people possible is the goal across the board. Buys encourages schools to utilize the “one-stop shopping method” in the BLND programming.
“An external referral service that is qualified, efficient, dynamic, and integrated in nature – like BLND – helps provide a one-stop shop for student-athletes and parents to receive the support they need,” said Buys.
Lanting agrees, stating, “The more students and parents become familiar with some of the signs and symptoms, the better. Coaches and teammates might be the first to notice a change in someone’s behavior whether through daily interaction or social media activity.”
Buys and company have noticed a few recent trends leading to school-aged anxiety and stress, and have people in place to visit groups and lead discussions.
“The signs and symptoms can be very individualized, but some general factors may include isolation, irritability, drastic changes to an individual’s common mood or behavior,” noted Buys. “Students can also be affected by major life changes such as parent divorce, break-up with significant other, changing schools, things of that nature.”
When Lanting receives inquiries from individual coaches regarding the be nice.® program, she encourages them to get entire teams or districts involved, because, “it’s a K-12 initiative, and sports is really a great place to start.”
Sport participation offers a different set of variables. Student-athletes enjoy additional support and guidance, but there is a flip side.
“Student-athletes do have access to more adult guidance through coaches, and certainly enjoy inclusion as part of a team, but they also tend to be more at risk for anxiety,” Lanting said.
Buys points out several reasons for this, including added expectations – whether from within or from peers, parents and coaches. They are also busier than many others.
“Time management is an issue for all of us, but student-athletes can have difficulties finding that rhythm,” Buys said. “This can cause a lot of anxiety if an area of the athlete’s life that they value is perceived as not getting the attention it needs.”
Another source of stress more likely to affect athletes is injuries.
“One of the biggest challenges in the athlete population dealing with stress and anxiety is the strong relationship between stress and injury,” said Buys. “Susceptibility to injury as well as the length of time for recovery are affected by stress.”
Identifying physical conditions is much simpler than recognizing behavioral ailments. That’s why it’s important for groups like BLND and be nice.® to teach the school population to self-diagnose.
Lanting coordinated a be nice.® football game between Holland/Zeeland-area high schools last fall, and is planning a similar event during a Fennville-Saugatuck boys basketball game this winter.
“We see all the ‘pink-out’ games and events for other causes, and that’s great,” Lanting said. “But a person in high school is so much more likely to be affected by mental health than suffer a physical ailment. That’s why the student-led part of this is so important; they tell us when things happen that might trigger certain behaviors.”
PHOTOS: (Top) be nice. founder Christy Buck (left) and program coordinator Cat Lanting pose with MSU men’s basketball coach Tom Izzo during production of a promotional video this summer. (Middle) The BLND Health Detroit Metro Team, including founder Brooke Buys (seated middle, second row from bottom.)
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NFHS Voice: Give Thanks for Officials
February 19, 2020
By Karissa Niehoff
NFHS Executive Director
While the behavior of parents and other fans at high school games is still a work in progress, there is some good news on the officiating front.
Last fall, we reported on a growing shortage of officials nationwide – even reaching a crisis stage in some areas as games were being cancelled. Through a nationwide recruitment effort, progress is being made in attracting more people to the high school officiating avocation.
Thanks to the NFHS’ #BecomeAnOfficial campaign that was launched in the spring of 2017, more than 4,000 men and women across the country have registered and become certified officials. Many of these individuals are former high school athletes who want to remain involved in sports, earn some extra income and stay in shape, including first responders such as police officers, firefighters and EMTs.
On the flip side, however, is the fear that any gains in new officials coming in the front door are being offset by other officials heading out the back door because of the continued boorish behavior on the part of parents and other fans.
Rickey Neaves, associate director of the Mississippi High School Activities Association, is struggling to cover all basketball games in his state in his role as officials’ coordinator.
“Fans and coaches alike feel freer to downgrade officials, and holler and scream at them, as opposed to the way it was 10 years ago,” Neaves said. “You can see where it is getting worse and worse with parents and coaches blaming officials or staying on an official to the point where they’re just not going to take it, so they just get out.”
Unfortunately, we continue to hear reports like this from across the country. A recent survey conducted by Officially Human: Behind the Stripes that was completed by about 19,000 respondents in 14 states indicated that the problem persists, with fans who do not know the rules being the main culprit.
If efforts by the NFHS at the national level – and others at state and local levels – to attract more people to officiating are to be successful, unsportsmanlike behavior on the part of parents and other fans must cease or we will lose some of these new officials within two years.
While we recognize the task of improving the culture at high school events is challenging and is one more item on the busy plates of school administrators, it is essential if we are to retain officials.
Brenda Hilton, founder of Officially Human: Beyond the Stripes, said, “The time is now for all of us to realize that officials are human and their existence and hard work at sporting events allows all of us to enjoy the games that we love. We must start to humanize officials now before the whistles fall silent.”
Recognition and thanks should also be a part of the game plan. We must regularly share our appreciation for the men and women who officiate high school sports.
Dana Pappas, commissioner of officials for the New Mexico Officials Association, shared the following with officials in her state during a special appreciation week:
“Never think that what you do as an official doesn’t matter because it does. Never let one contest where the fans are exceedingly brutal and the scrutiny is overly intense derail your love for what you do. Never think that you are not making a difference because you most definitely are. You are educators, role models and guardians of the integrity of the sport you officiate. You officiate because you care about kids, you care about your chosen sport and you care about your community.”
Instead of viewing these officiating issues as a crisis, let’s see them as an opportunity to impact lives through education-based athletics.
Dr. Karissa L. Niehoff is in her second year as executive director of the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) in Indianapolis, Indiana. She is the first female to head the national leadership organization for high school athletics and performing arts activities and the sixth full-time executive director of the NFHS, which celebrated its 100th year of service during the 2018-19 school year. She previously was executive director of the Connecticut Association of Schools-Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference for seven years.