McMaster Movember efforts highlight the importance of men’s health
- Bennett Swan
- 16 Dec 2019
McMaster University’s men’s rugby team and men’s volleyball team combined for a total of $14,265 raised for The Movember Foundation in their 2019 Movember Campaigns.
Movember, a charitable campaign each November for which men grow their facial hair in support of men’s health, has become one of the leading foundations for men’s health awareness in the world.
The focus of the foundation is to support men who are struggling with prostate cancer, testicular cancer, or mental health, as well as raising awareness for suicide prevention. Since 2003, Movember has helped fund more than 1,250 Men’s Health Projects over the world.
Now that November has concluded, and the Movember campaigns have officially come to a close for 2019, members of both the McMaster volleyball and rugby teams have taken time to reflect on what their ‘Mo’ means to them.
As members of two highly esteemed programs, both Jordan Pereira and Jack McRogers stressed the importance of mental health, particularly as a highly-competitive athlete.
Jack McRogers, a 4th year member of the men’s rugby team, is aware of the taboo that surrounds mental health in the sport of rugby.
“Rugby is a sport where a definite culture of toughness exists,” McRogers said. “Vulnerability can sometimes be perceived as weakness and that usually leads to guys avoiding it altogether.”
McRogers is no stranger to competition and high-level sports. As a current member of the McMaster varsity rugby team, he also competes for the Toronto Arrows in the Major League Rugby circuit. He has also had the opportunity to represent Canada at the Under 20 level.
In his experience, he has seen first-hand the overwhelming impact that high-level competitive environments can have on mental health. The daily grind of constantly being evaluated and competing just for the opportunity to play can wear a person down. He also acknowledged that this is not unique to high-level athletes.
“Movember opens up conversation pathways that aren’t necessarily natural for me to explore. When you think of Movember you think of the moustache, but once you really peel the layers back and realize what the month is all about, you realize how powerful the message really is,” explains McRogers.
Movember has been a staple of the Mac rugby team for a long time, and over the years they have learned many important lessons. This year, they were able to organize several fundraisers, including a Rugby 7’s Tournament and a booth which sold gift baskets, t-shirts, wristbands, and other items of Movember merchandise.
It’s no surprise that with all of these lessons they were able to fundraise at a spectacular rate, raising $9,085.
The men’s volleyball team was no slouch either, adding on an additional $5,180, despite a much smaller roster.
Jordan Pereira, 4th year libero on the men’s volleyball team who has also spent time with the Junior National Team and represented Canada at the 2019 FISU Games, attributes this success to the internal competition and inclusivity that existed within the team.
“In previous years, I don’t think many guys really knew that Movember was going on, and the participation was usually held to just a few guys,” Pereira remarked. “This year, the big push was to get everyone to participate, and once participation was taken care of, the competition took care of itself.”
Pereira also grew his ‘Mo’ in support of mental health. To him, there is no doubt that a stigma about mental health exists, especially for athletes. That said, the rallying of the team around Movember has improved relationships within the team, which in turn makes those difficult or awkward conversations much easier.
The one-two punch of the volleyball and rugby teams’ efforts has led to unprecedented levels of fundraising. U of Mo Sports Canada, a new initiative from Movember, has offered a fundraising leaderboard across all Canadian university and college athletics teams. McMaster rugby and McMaster volleyball finished at number 2 and 5 respectively on the leaderboard, combining for nearly 10% of the total U Sports fundraising.
Moving forward, both McRogers and Pereira have the goal of establishing ubiquitous Movember campaign across the athletic department, and the university. The camaraderie that has grown just between these two teams has led to a new standard of success which only suggests that there is more to come.
Lead photo courtesy of Jose Lagman via @mcmasterugby
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