The Basketball New South Wales High Performance department has teamed up with The Push Up Challenge initiative to help promote physical fitness and support mental health within our basketball community.
The Push Up Challenge was created to raise awareness of the lives lost to suicide in Australia and the need for further mental health support across the country. Over the course of 21-days all participants are challenged to complete 3,046 push-ups in total, representing the number of lives lost in Australia to suicide in 2018.
The BNSW challenge has been created to align with all State Performance Program (SPP) athletes and coaches, with hubs created to entice the competitive nature found in sport ranging from North NSW all the way down to Albury. Not only will our athletes be getting a work-out but they will also be learning about mental wellness with daily practical tips shared on the website platform.
BNSW Mental Health advocate, Nick Bracks has also joined the challenge along with several BNSW coaches, in what will be sure a great, positive experience for everyone involved.
General Manager for Coaching and Development, Brett Coxsedge has described the originality of the challenge as an excellent tool to help raise awareness for people in our community and as a fun activity to do with fellow teammates and friends.
“The Push Up Challenge is a great way to bridge the gap between exercise and mental health, which has been a huge focus for our high-performance programs, and with the inclusion of Nick Bracks also putting his hand up to join, it will assist us in driving our motto of togetherness,” Coxsedge said.
“We have seen our athletes already raise close to $1,500 for Headspace, but the real focus from us as a coaching point of view is the goal of working in teams or hubs to collectively reach the target number of push-ups each day. And with our BNSW High Performance coaches and SPP coaches also taking up the challenge, it will ensure more of a rivalry to do ‘better’ between the coaches and athletes”
Fundraising is optional as part of this event but we do encourage people to support headspace, The National Youth Mental Health Foundation with the challenge starting from Monday 11th of May and concludes on Sunday the 31st of May.
If you would like to donate, please CLICK HERE for more information and to be redirected to the BNSW SPP Push Up Challenge webpage.
