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Young ball hockey players picked up their sticks and went to battle for mental health in a massive two-day weekend tournament held at Legion Stadium.
A horde of young hockey players picked up their sticks and went into battle for mental health in a massive weekend tournament held at Truro’s Colchester Legion Stadium.
Proceeds raised from the Hubtown Street Hockey tournament will be donated to Kids Help Phone, who had staff present during games in case children and youth needed to talk with them about any problems they had.
“It’s important because of mental health with youth today, kids struggle so sometimes they don’t want to reach out to their friends or families,” said Krista O’dwyer, one of the organizers whose son Zayne was also playing.
Kids Help Phone offers free online and telephone counselling to youth across Canada experi- encing mental health issues and also offers information on how to access other support services.
Asked why so many children and youth today seem to be having mental health issues, O’dwyer said technology such as social media – and an epidemic of bullying both on- and offline – were the main culprits.
Cyberbullying is especially dangerous, as harassers can target victims with threats, extortion and insults around the clock in both school and at home. “Traditional” bullies, by contrast, can only attack victims while in school.
Online harassment and other criminal acts have driven a number of teens to suicide in recent years, most notably BC youth Amanda Todd in 2012 and Nova Scotian Rehtaeh Parsons the following year.
“They just struggle with depression and the bullying is the big- gest one,” said O’dwyer.
But for local young hockey players Ewan Mackinnon, Hayden Hurley and Cayden Crowe, all on the ODR Hockey Club side, they were there for the fun.
For them, hockey is a way to feel good and Ewan described his chosen sport as “exciting.”
Cayden said watching his father led him into hockey, while Hayden simply said, “I watched it and I just wanted to play it.”
They two-day, co-ed Hubtown Street Hockey Tournament was open to players between age seven and 17. Approximately 20 teams signed up to play at the Hubtown Street Hockey Tournament.
It was designed to replace the ‘ Play On!’ street hockey tournament in Halifax, which was discontinues. Many players from Truro and Colchester County previously took part in that event.