NCAA & LG Raise Mental Health Awareness Among Student Athletes
March 17, 2023
The US's NCAA (National Collegiate Athletic Association) and its official corporate partner, LG Electronics USA, have teamed up to highlight the importance of mental health and wellness among student-athletes. Their ‘Game 4 Good’ campaign is bringing together some of the biggest names in college basketball during the current 2023 NCAA March Madness tournaments to emphasize the importance of mental well-being.
According to an NCAA well-being survey, student-athletes continue to report high levels of concern around mental wellness. In most instances, concerns reported in autumn of 2021 were 1.5 to 2 times higher than have been historically reported by the NCAA. Rates of mental exhaustion, anxiety and depression among student-athletes last year were comparable to rates at the start of the pandemic and have seen little change.
Through the campaign, LG intends to help break stigmas around mental health by partnering with four NCAA student-athletes from men's and women's college basketball programs that have demonstrated a deep commitment to mental wellness and advocacy work. Haley Jones (Stanford University), Flau'Jae Johnson (Louisiana State University), Trayce Jackson-Davis (Indiana University) and Jarace Walker (University of Houston) feature in a video content series that highlights the significance of mental well-being and why they "Game 4 Good."
"Student-athletes can experience intense pressures that can have a significant impact on their mental well-being," said Jeannie Lee, director of corporate brand marketing at LG Electronics USA. "Through the 'Game 4 Good' campaign, our goal is to share the personal mental health journeys of these amazing athletes and inspire conversations along with support that resonate with their fellow student-athletes and anyone that may find themselves experiencing similar issues. We also want to use this platform to better recognize the people and organizations that are actively working in this space to support student-athletes in various ways."
As part of the campaign, LG will donate $10,000 to each student-athlete partner’s mental health charity of choice. These include Katie’s Save, an initiative supporting students and sports teams, Frank Callen Boys and Girls Club of Savannah, Georgia, which helps local youth grow and thrive through programming and several mental health initiatives, Reach for Youth, a community resource that provides a family-focused approach to mental health and the National Alliance of Mental Illness (NAMI), the US's largest grassroots organization focused on mental health advocacy, education and support.
Game 4 Good builds on LG’s mission to create a better life for all by helping foster conversations around mental health that can help action pathways for healing and understanding. As part of its mission, the company launched a podcast tour last year hosted by former DI student-athlete turned mental health advocate, Prim Siripipat, which explores mental wellness within athletics and academia. New episodes of ‘Transparent Conversations’ will be taped during the NCAA tournament featuring student-athletes, mental health experts, administrators and more.
The series is hosted on LG’s website, its other digital platforms, and the NCAA and athlete partners’ social channels. It is one of the many elements of LG’s overall platform for its three-year partnership with the NCAA - ‘Love the Game’. The collaboration focuses on the emotion and commitment that is wrapped up in college sports for student-athletes, teams and fans.