NEW YORK — When the coronavirus pandemic shut down the Liberty’s season before it even started last year — much like it did for just about every other sports team and league in the world — it set off an alarm of just how serious the disease was ... and still is. Everyone from professional athletes to school students were sent home.
While the Liberty and others have returned to their place of work in somewhat of a return to pre-pandemic times, the change back to “normal” hasn’t happened yet for the city’s youth.
They’ve teetered between online classes and social distant in-person classes, not being able to interact with their friends like they would, eating lunch at their desks, masks on always. That’s expected to continue to some degree again when classes resume in a few weeks.
Needless to say, it’s not much to look forward to.
“The reality is we’ve all suffered in one way or another throughout the pandemic,” Brooklyn-born actress Nia Long told the New York Daily News on Monday.
Long has collaborated with the Liberty on a back to school celebration for the city’s youth to bring awareness to the reality that today’s kids have been and still are struggling with their mental health. That celebration will kick off in a free event open to everyone at 5 p.m. on Friday at Barclays Center plaza before the Liberty take on the Seattle Storm.
“As a mother of a college student and a elementary student, I’ve seen the effects of the isolation of the pandemic,” Long said. “My biggest concern for my own children, was their mental wellness, and we talk about mental health and mental wellness, and what can we do as parents to support our children through this.”
“We’re working through so many social issues. ... And we don’t always intuitively have the tools to manage ourselves through those challenges,” Long continued. “And so, I want parents to know that they can help their children build their own personal toolbox that will lead to success and support some of the challenges that we’re experiencing.”
The campaign could not come at a more crucial time. Just last week a global study published in JAMA Pediatrics found that one in four children and teens have developed and are struggling with depression and one in five are struggling with anxiety, all as a result of the pandemic.
If anyone understands the hardship that comes with poor mental health, it’s world class athletes like the Liberty’s players and those of the WNBA, which has not shied away from helping its players, especially during such challenging times.
“Working in the WNBA for the many years that I have, mental health has always been at the forefront,” Liberty CEO Keia Clarke told The News. “I think more and more we’re seeing it across all of sports, athletes making decisions for themselves really connecting not just ‘I take care of my body’ but ‘I also take care of my mental health.’ ”
“So why not, as leaders in sort of this conversation, the onus is a little bit on us in athletics to sort of show and provide to a community,” Clarke continued. “If we’re not the experts, we always lift up a mirror to what is happening in the world.”
