The CHS volleyball team played against Huron during the Mental Health Awareness game on October 24th. Players Lexi Cummer (‘26) and Sasha French (‘24), two skilled and spirited volleyball players, were passionate in bringing awareness to the stigma surrounding mental health at Tuesday night’s game, despite the challenges the team faced during the game.
“I think it’s important to focus on mental health as an athlete,” Cummer said. “Despite losing a big game, it doesn’t change the fact that we brought awareness of the stigma to the community, which is the most important thing.”
Cummer has seen people around her struggle with mental health and wants people to realize there’s a way they can get help.
“I just set myself aside to chill and not worry about anything,” Cummer said. “I feel like volleyball is beneficial to my mental health because it gets me away from whatever I’m stressing about.”
Being around teammates helps Cummer become a better athlete and person, especially teammate French, with whom she shares the same appreciation for bringing awareness to mental health.
“As student athletes, we focus on being perfect all the time, but we forget it can also be so tiring.” French acknowledged that she’s been surrounded by playing multiple sports her whole life, and sometimes it can be draining to be set to such a high standard constantly.
With being a student athlete in multiple sports and difficult classes, French’s wish is for all students to realize “the pressure you are put under as a high school student can be unbearable, and I hope people all over realize somebody cares.” French hopes that having a game dedicated to mental health will help students speak up about the stigma.
Both Cummer and French want to announce, “You are not alone; it’s okay to not be okay.”