On Thursday, Jan. 25th, student-athletes, and athletic training majors were asked to gather at Pfleeger Concert Hall, to listen to Mark and Kym Hilinski talk about mental health for student-athletes and their son, Tyler Hilinksi, who took his life as a result of his depression that went untreated when he didn’t speak up about how he was feeling.

Tyler’s story is a tragedy and a message to all student-athletes who don’t feel like they can talk about what’s bothering them and how to overcome it. Tyler suffered from depression. In the sports world when something is wrong, there are trained professionals there to help you get back on the field, whether it be a sprained ankle, a torn ACL, or even COVID. There is someone that can fix whatever it is that is broken or fractured. But what if an athlete is hurting on the inside like Tyler was? Most athletic departments don’t have the specific resources that are on hand and at an athlete’s disposal that deal with serious problems that go on mentally. That’s where Hilinksi’s Hope comes in.

Hilinski’s Hope Foundation is a non-profit organization formed to promote awareness and education of mental health and wellness for student-athletes. The foundation’s mission is to educate, advocate, and eliminate the stigma associated with mental illness while funding programs that provide student-athletes with the tools and resources that support their mental health and wellness.

The organization was founded by Mark and Kym Hilisnki, Tyler’s parents, to honor the life of their son. Division I programs like Alabama, Florida State, Colorado, Arizona, Texas Tech, and many more schools around the country have already joined the fight against the stigma that surrounds student-athlete mental health. 

This isn’t something that only occurs with student-athletes, this is something that can happen to anyone. The Hilinksi family encourages people to reach out and be there for others who may be showing signs of poor mental health, and to be that helping hand if you see someone who is struggling with their mental health and encourage them to get help as soon as possible, to stop them from becoming another statistic.

“I want to share Tyler’s story in the hopes that we don’t lose another Tyler,” Mrs. Hilinksi said with tears in her eyes. “That another student-athlete doesn’t sit in silence with their mental health struggles. That they use his story and our journey to reach out and ask for help.”

Brandon Gatchell, an athletic training student, felt that the talk really opened his eyes to the real struggles that student-athletes face every day, with student life and their sports lives as well.

“It’s very important that the Hilinksi family is going to colleges because I think it is a bigger thing and no one thinks about the athlete’s mental health and how it can take a toll on that person and their everyday life,” Gatchell said. “Time management is what I think causes some of the stress. Being a student-athlete takes up a lot of time, and they don’t have enough time to do their schoolwork, or go to the gym, or do what they wanna do. It puts a lot of stress on them.”

The Hilinski’s talk really opened a lot of students’ eyes to the mental health crisis in this country, but Rowan has already been aware of this and has things in place if someone is having a rough time mentally.

Every day before practices, games, or even on their days off, student-athletes would have to fill out a form that asks about their stress levels, depression levels, where they felt sore on their body, how much sleep they got the night prior, have they eaten, and their happiness level. Former student-athlete Molly Fitzpatrick really put it to good use if she ever was struggling.

“It was very helpful,” she said. “If we did a low score depending on how low or how consistently we have a low score the coach pulls us aside and asks if there’s anything he can do to help and just reassures us he’s there for us and says we can reach out to him if we want more sources for help.”

For comments/questions about this story DM us on Instagram @thewhitatrowan or email thewhit.featureseditor@gmail.com