By MICHAELA LYONS
WAKEFIELD — Wednesday night’s girls’ volleyball game was much bigger than volleyball. In an exciting match against Burlington, Wakefield Memorial High School’s Charbonneau Field House was decorated with orange, white and blue streamers and balloons to embrace student athlete mental health.
The vision all started with junior middle hitter Emma Ickes, who has been an avid supporter of student athlete mental health. Growing up in an athletic household, Ickes has always held student athlete mental health near and dear to her heart. When she realized that the topic had not been discussed a lot in Wakefield, she was inspired to dedicate a game to the subject. Ickes is an ambassador for Morgan’s Message, a nonprofit organization that strives to combat mental health issues in student athletes.
With the leadership of Ickes — her team and Morgan’s Message worked together to organize a game that would celebrate student athlete mental health, emphasizing that one is a human before they are an athlete.
The team made posters with information about Morgan’s Message, hair ribbons for themselves and Burlington to wear during the game and provided stickers and bracelets for patrons of the game to wear. The Warriors also provided donation boxes in which spectators could donate money to Morgan’s Message.
Of course, none of this could have been possible without the guidance of head coach Kayla Wyland, who highly values her players’ mental health. Ickes says that before practices, the team does “mental practices,” in which Wyland leads the players in mental exercises and activities to ensure that her athletes are always in the right headspace.
Clearly, that practice has transferred well into games, with the Warriors moving to 5-1 after a hard-earned 3-1 victory over the Red Devils. Additionally, the team has an impressive set of stats, such as an average of 17.8 digs per set, 5.9 blocks per match, and a serving percentage of 88.8.
The juniors were the trailblazers in the match on Wednesday, helping the Warriors to victory. Middle and outside hitter, Lila Arkinstall, had a total of 12 kills and a kill percentage of 54.5. Additionally, Arkinstall also had 3 aces.
Outside hitter, Mia Kenny, also allocated for a lot of the team’s points, racking up 10 kills.
Jackie Sullivan was a huge asset defensively for the Warriors with 4 blocks, 3 of those being solo blocks.
The Warriors had a huge win on the court on Wednesday night against a strong Burlington team.
However, the match was much bigger than volleyball. The Warriors taught fans and spectators that it’s OK to not be OK and you have the right to reach out for help if you need it.
Wakefield will host Watertown tonight at 6:30 p.m.