TCI FOCUSES ON MENTAL HEALTH
CRICKET: Toowoomba Cricket will stage its inaugural Mental Health Awareness Round to coincide with the second round of local fixtures and the Harding-Madsen Shield.
Players and officials are encouraged to wear green armbands as a method of showing support, and TCI president Angus Rathie said the time was right for the league to get on board.
“We’ve been bouncing around a few ideas and looked for something that we can be involved in,” he said.
“The discussion got around to mental health and the idea of having a round with everything going on.
“We wanted to have it early in the season to get the conversation started early, and Ipswich have been very helpful in allowing all (shield) games to be played in Toowoomba this weekend.”
Rathie said the mateship and community of local sport was one of the drivers to helping with people’s mental health, particularly in the current climate.
“There’s always a bit of banter in cricket, but with the stresses of Covid, we don’t always know what’s going on in people’s lives,” he said.
“We’re wanting people to take a few seconds and realise that something mightn’t have been such a smart thing to say.
“Cricket and sport at a community level gives many people a break from their lives, an avenue to mingle and have a chat.
“I know when I was on the farm it got you off the tractor, and if I didn’t have that I would’ve felt isolated.”
One of the major events taking place is a workshop on Friday night, with representatives from all clubs and the umpires attending.
“Queensland Cricket has provided us with a lot of support and we’ve reached out to groups that can help us,” he said.
“We’re treading lightly, but want to get awareness out there this season and build on it from there.
“On Friday night we’ll have a workshop with all clubs where people can take ideas back to their clubs.
“We’ve got a guest speaker from Beyond Blue and the Black Dog Institute is co-ordinating it.”
A-grade fixtures will be headlined by the rematch of the 1-day final between Northern Brothers Diggers and Western Districts at Rockville Oval from 10.30am.