PROVIDENCE, R.I. – The American Athletic Conference Student Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC), representing the more than 7,000 student-athletes in the Conference, once again has made mental health and safety its top priority. All 13 American institutions will kick off the Conference’s Pow6rful Minds Campaign for 2018-19 with Mental Health Awareness Week, Oct. 1-7, as part of an important initiative to improve awareness of mental health issues and resources available to student-athletes with the goal of ending the stigma related to seeking help and promoting success through a healthy, powerful mind.
Green, the color of mental health awareness nationally, will be seen by American fans during designated athletic contests throughout the school year and the Conference’s #Pow6rfulMinds hashtag will be prominently used on all of its social media accounts. The initiative was started by The American SAAC in the fall 2017 with the help of each institutional SAAC.
All 12 American football teams will be in action next weekend, and as part of the Pow6rful Minds Campaign kickoff, will place a green ribbon decal on the back of their helmets. Fans will get a first glimpse of the sticker during the Tulsa-Houston matchup on Thursday, Oct. 4 on ESPN. In addition, coaches and support staff will be wearing green ribbon pins while on the sidelines.
The initiative will carry into the following week when The American holds its annual Basketball Media Day on Oct. 15 in Philadelphia. All men’s and women’s basketball student-athletes and coaches will wear specially designed green ribbon pins. Jeremy Jordan, Faculty Athletic Representative at Temple University and a member of The American’s Executive SAAC Committee, and David Fitzgerald, a cross country and track student-athlete for the Owls and Conference SAAC vice chair, will appear live on the American Digital Network to outline and detail the programs supported by SAAC and Conference related to the topic of mental health awareness.
“The American Athletic Conference’s SAAC is proud to represent our fellow student-athletes with this important initiative,” said Enna Selmanovic, a senior on the University of Cincinnati’s women’s swimming and diving team and chair of the Conference SAAC and The American’s national SAAC representative. “As our Pow6rful Minds Campaign enters its second year, we hope to continue to work toward eliminating the stigma surrounding mental health and promoting the resources on our campuses that encourage all students to become brave, disciplined and supportive. We want to continue to encourage those student-athletes to seek the care that they may need without judgement in an inclusive environment and in furthering their development of a healthy and powerful mind.”
Throughout the academic year, American teams will designate one athlete contest as a Green Game. In addition, institutions will host awareness events to facilitate mental health discussion and also to celebrate academic success.
The Conference also will produce PSAs featuring SAAC members, football and men’s and women’s basketball student-athletes that will be shown on American Digital Network productions and in-venue during championship events and regular season contests.