A youth football club has shown it’s support for mental health awareness by advertising a mental health charity on their kit.
Bathgate Juniors’ under-13s and under-17 sides will carry the logo of the Scottish Association for Mental Health (SAMH) on the front of their kit for new season and will work closely with the organisation to help promote mental health awareness within the club.
Bathgate councillor Harry Cartmill was on hand for the unveiling and was presented with a kit by players from both teams.
Bathgate Juniors secretary Lisa Steele said: “Lockdown has been incredibly difficult for a lot of young people and their mental health. Trying to look after the mental health of our players has always been something that we as a club, and our coaches, have taken seriously.
“Given the current situation we just couldn’t contact businesses asking for money, it didn’t seem right because it’s a tough situation a lot of them are in just now.
“We felt strongly that we wanted to support a charity and we asked all the coaches. parents and players and they all agreed that a mental health charity would be perfect and important.”
While the two teams will be proudly displaying the SAMH logo this season, Steele says the relationship is about much more than advertising the charity.
She commented: “SAMH have said that they will come out and speak to the players and talk to them about mental health awareness and let them know that there’s always somebody there for support.
“The guys are now back playing and it means the world to them that they can kick a ball about with their pals as a full team.
“It’s been tough because they’d not only missed out on playing games and the benefits that has for physical fitness, but they’d missed just hanging out with their pals and the togetherness that training brings.
“It’s all had an impact on their mental health and the link-up with SAMH is because we want to show them that there’s always help and support.”
