SPASH soccer to ‘Kick the Stigma’ with mental health awareness game
By Brandi Makuski
STEVENS POINT — The SPASH boys soccer team will trade its usual school colors for a splash of lime green Thursday as players use their friendly rivalry with Wisconsin Rapids to put a spotlight on mental health.
The Panthers will host Wisconsin Rapids at 7 p.m. Sept. 3 at Goerke Park for the annual “Kicking the Stigma” game, an event supporting the National Alliance on Mental Illness, or NAMI, of Portage and Wood Counties.
Fans are encouraged to wear lime green, the color associated with mental health awareness, and NAMI volunteers will be at the stadium with information and resources beginning during the junior varsity game.
The event has been around in various forms for several years, but Samantha Varga, vice president of the NAMI Portage and Wood Counties board, said its roots are with the students themselves.
“It came to us at NAMI from the students,” Varga said. “They said they wanted to do this and support mental health and have the conversations going about that.”
The game originally grew out of the longstanding SPASH-Wisconsin Rapids Lincoln rivalry, with students from the two schools competing to see which could raise more money and secure more sponsors for the cause.
While the event has evolved, Varga said students and athletes continue to drive it. NAMI’s role is largely to provide support, educational materials and mental health resources.
SPASH boys soccer coach Bill Loss also credited former SPASH and Wisconsin Rapids soccer coach Derrick Bell with helping launch and build the event.
Loss said Bell remains closely connected to the program and has expressed appreciation that Kicking the Stigma continues years later.
The cause is particularly relevant in high school athletics, Loss said, because coaches often have no idea what a student may be carrying with them when they arrive at practice.
SPASH has 66 boys in its soccer program this fall, and Loss said some players and parents over the years have privately told him about mental health struggles or counseling. Knowing what a player is dealing with can allow coaches to adjust their approach, he said.
Other times, coaches simply don’t know.
“I’ve been coaching for 40 years now, and so how I would have approached things 40 years ago, and how I’ve started to do things now, has changed dramatically,” Loss said.
Varga said the fact that some students are willing to approach coaches about those struggles is significant.
“The hardest step to take is saying that I’m having the struggle, and then finding someone they can talk to and trust and feel safe to share that information,” she said.
Loss said coaches may spend about 90 minutes with players during a typical practice, leaving limited opportunities for one-on-one conversations. That makes relationships — and noticing when something seems out of character — especially important.
Sometimes asking a player whether everything is OK gets a simple answer, Loss said. Other times, it opens a much more serious conversation.
Soccer, he said, is only one part of a student’s life.
“It’s part of what’s going to help form who they are,” Loss said. “But it’s not the thing that’s going to form who they are, and it doesn’t make or break their success or failures in life.”
Varga said NAMI’s role is to help fill some of the gaps by connecting students, families, educators, coaches and others with resources.
The local organization is entirely volunteer-run and provides free education, support and advocacy for people living with mental illness, along with their families and others affected by it.
SPASH also has a student-led Raise Your Voice Club, a NAMI program aimed at encouraging conversations about mental health. Varga said the club has developed a strong presence at the school and regularly reaches students during lunch.
For Loss, Thursday’s matchup also offers a natural connection to NAMI’s two-county service area.
SPASH and Wisconsin Rapids have been rivals for years, and Loss said he hopes that rivalry helps fill the stands for a cause that goes well beyond the final score.
“We’re hoping that we will generate a good crowd,” Loss said.
The varsity game begins at 7 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 3, at Goerke Park, 1100 Minnesota Ave. Fans are encouraged to wear lime green. NAMI representatives will be on hand before the varsity game and during the junior varsity contest with mental health information and resources.