On Monday, September 29th, the Drumheller Dragons along with Drumheller Minor Hockey Association worked together to bring in former NHL player Bob Wilkie for a presentation at the Badlands Community Facility.
Wilkie played for the Swift Current Broncos back in 1986 when the team bus crashed just outside of Swift Current, where four of his teammates lost their lives. He was still with the team in 1989 when the won the Memorial Cup, also during the time of Graham James being the coach of the team. The presentation focused on the trauma he and his teammates went through during their time in Swift Current and afterwards in their lives after hockey. The showing of this documentary and sharing the story is important for Wilkie. “I think it’s really important. It’s more of a tragic story, with the bus accident, but I’ve learned that all athletes that are striving to achieve something are going to be disappointed, in some way or another. Whether it’s getting cut or not reaching the heights that they wanted, that can cause some pain. When it does, it can take them down a road that they don’t want to go.”
The stigma about talking about mental health, especially in sports, has been improving and Wilkie shares in the optimism about where we are now when it comes to mental health in sport. “I think it is really encouraging. In all the years I have been doing this, almost 20 years now, to finally have people ok to talk about things, it is really helpful. The thing I see that we still need to take a step forward, is there is more education that needs to happen, for us coaches, for us parents, to support those young people. I think we can do a better job as leaders, for these young people.”
The documentary is quite moving and the conversations developed from the presentation help to move things forward. Wilkie shares that after every presentation, someone shares their story. “Every time. Every show there is a handful of people that come and say ‘hey, I’ve got tell you about something’, that they have not shared with anybody else. If we get one of those every time we go out, then that is a life that is going to be a little lighter, a little easier, and then it’s worth it to us.”
To find out more about the documentary “Sideways”, visit the I Got Mind website (www.igotmind.ca) or check out their Facebook page.
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