Despite the pandemic limiting in-person interaction, various McMaster sports teams have found ways to instill community while growing their month-long moustache.
Ever since its founding in 2003, the Movember campaign has funded more than 1250 men’s health initiatives with twenty countries participating. Since its origin in Australia, over 6 million individuals have cumulatively participated in the campaign, raising $1.13 billion since its inception. Within the last year, $20.8 million was raised in Canada, where 66.5% was allocated for men’s health projects.
Movember was brought to life by two Australian men, Travis Garone and Luke Slattery, who wanted to raise awareness regarding four main areas of men’s health: mental health, physical activity, testicular cancer and prostate cancer.
From raising $0 in their founding year, they were able to fundraise $50,468 the following year, while increasing their participants 16-fold from 30 to 480. The aim of the campaign is to reduce premature death of men by 25 percent by 2030. In fact, males comprise 75 percent of all suicides, with one man dying by it every minute.
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For the past six years, McMaster men’s rugby athletes have participated in the initiative. This year, Max Pinkerton, a fifth-year player taking a senior role on the team, expanded the initiative to encompass all Marauder athletes.
“We reached out to our friends who are on other sports teams and decided to bear this initiative. Fortunately, we grew to seven teams this year . . . We see that no sports are going to be played this year so we figured that why not expand Movember so everyone can partake in it and I think that’s something teams took pretty well,” said Pinkerton.
“We reached out to our friends who are on other sports teams and decided to bear this initiative. Fortunately, we grew to seven teams this year . . . We see that no sports are going to be played this year so we figured that why not expand Movember so everyone can partake in it and I think that’s something teams took pretty well,” said Pinkerton.
This year was quite different during the campaign as many of the typical events had to be cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Typically, we’re more hands-on with gathering sponsorships, donations and hosting events,” said Pinkerton.
As the pandemic has taken a toll on many individuals’ mental health, the rugby team did a modified team photoshoot with a collage. They also created a bottle drive, both with the goal to instil a sense of community amongst the team.
They also partnered with the Movember organization to create an online trivia night, where family and friends joined in on the fundraising campaign. Athletes have also done personal challenges where they would interact with the community on their route.
“It's definitely interesting to create a sense of community while being virtual, you kind of take granted the face to face moments,” said Pinkerton.
At the end of the month, the rugby team was able to raise just over $8,900, beating their goal of $7,500.
Among the seven teams, the men’s baseball team and volleyball teams also participated in this year’s campaign. Bennett Swan, a fourth-year player on the volleyball team, led his team’s campaign, raising a collective total of over $12,000, surpassing their initial goal by $5,000. For Swan, Movember has a personal connection to him, after losing his dad in the eighth grade to cancer.
“It took a lot of courage and taking that first step for checking my mental health and testicular cancer, something men may find awkward to do. But it is essential to do. It's really easy to fall into the trap of Movember for not shaving, but if you peel back the layers and see the deep meaning behind wanting to see men live longer,” said Swan.
Swan further emphasized the importance of admitting to oneself they need help and continues to advocate for loved ones checking-in on themselves, such as speaking with a counsellor.
“It took a lot of courage and taking that first step for checking my mental health and testicular cancer, something men may find awkward to do. But it is essential to do. It's really easy to fall into the trap of Movember for not shaving, but if you peel back the layers and see the deep meaning behind wanting to see men live longer,” said Swan.
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For Julian Tymochko and Kenny Noguchi, fourth- and sixth-year players on the baseball team, this was their first year participating in the Movember campaign. They successfully raised over $4,500, surpassing their goal of $2,000. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the team decided to ramp up their social media presence.
“We did a round-robin tournament for best moustache. That was one way we got people involved. We got quite a few donations from that so it’s been quite effective,” said Noguchi.
“We did a round-robin tournament for best moustache. That was one way we got people involved. We got quite a few donations from that so it’s been quite effective,” said Noguchi.
To raise awareness regarding mental health, Tymochko also did 10-kilometre runs to help clear his mind but wanted to expand to his entire team for future years.
“You see 20 big, burly guys running down the street and people will be asking what’s going on there? It’s just to bring more eyes and awareness,” said Tymochko.
“You see 20 big, burly guys running down the street and people will be asking what’s going on there? It’s just to bring more eyes and awareness,” said Tymochko.
For all the teams involved, raising awareness, in general, has been the predominant goal.
“We’re dropping interviews to help break down the barriers affecting the stigma of dealing with mental health and testicular cancer. Something I usually sign off with every November is “check your balls”. It feels a bit taboo, but the main thing about Movember is getting to know yourself, physical but also the mental health side of it as well,” said Pinkerton.
Pinkerton, Noguchi, Swan and Tymochko all emphasize the importance of reaching out for support and not fighting your battles yourself.
“We’re dropping interviews to help break down the barriers affecting the stigma of dealing with mental health and testicular cancer. Something I usually sign off with every November is “check your balls”. It feels a bit taboo, but the main thing about Movember is getting to know yourself, physical but also the mental health side of it as well,” said Pinkerton.
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By: Adriana Skaljin
For the past five years, the McMaster men’s rugby team has been running their own Movember campaign, raising money for men’s health initiatives. Last year, the team collectively raised around $6,100, motivating them to increase their goal for 2018 to $7,000.
The Movember Foundation is the leading charity that focuses on men’s health. They focus on issues such as prostate cancer, testicular cancer and mental health and suicide prevention. This initiative was started in 2003 and has funded more than 1,200 men’s health projects worldwide.
[spacer height="20px"]Callum MacLeay, a fifth-year kinesiology student, is leading this year’s Movember campaign. As the club captain on the rugby leadership team, it was his responsibility to take over the Movember initiative, since the club captain is involved with coordinating any off-field fundraising and team bonding. MacLeay has raised over $1,400 since 2015 and has set a personal goal of $1,000 for this year.
“Seeing as last year’s goal was $6,000 and this year’s is $7,000, it would be awesome to reach the realm of raising $10,000,” said MacLeay.
MacLeay has been participating in Movember for four years now and was inspired by the fact that his grandfather had prostate cancer.
“[This] made [Movember] something easy to engage with because it was something that I personally connected to,” said MacLeay.
Seeing as Movember raises money for men’s health, it is something that connects and affects everyone on the men’s rugby team. This creates a sense of motivation towards making a difference in this area of charitable work.
“[Movember] has ranged to a new focus on mental health, which is a big push that made us want go support [this initiative],” MacLeay explained.
When they first started the campaign, they had around 20 players participating; they now have around 50. This increase in participants shows an increase in support, thus bringing awareness to this initiative’s importance.
“On the field, we come together to achieve a common goal, but to have the camaraderie that comes with a community sense is great, and it is nice to see the newer players join [in helping with Movember],” said MacLeay. “The more you bring awareness, the more people want to get involved. This is due to a sense of empowerment.”
What comes with this sense of empowerment is the understanding that no one is alone and that we are all going through things. With focuses on issues such as mental health, we can remove stigmas and transition into a world that disallows people from suffering in silence.
Not only has the men’s rugby team worked towards removing stigmas and promoting men’s health, but they have banded together with other Marauders as well.
“Men’s volleyball, basketball, baseball, and football have joined us in our Movember initiative here at McMaster,” said MacLeay.
“Movember has been a meaningful experience for me since we get to engage with coaches, alumni, and student field therapists in the fundraising, so it [goes beyond] the players. Having everyone come together on something that is bigger than rugby is important, and I think that it helps build camaraderie both on and off of the field.”
On Nov. 29 and 30, the men’s rugby team will be setting up an information table in the David Braley Athletic Centre on campus. They will be selling t-shirts, wrist bands and will be holding a raffle as well. All proceeds will go towards their Movember campaign.
It is without a doubt that the amazing efforts of the McMaster men’s rugby team are instrumental in changing the ways in which we view men’s health, while sparking a conversation around mental health. Change is possible, with some Marauder spirit, camaraderie and a sense of empowerment.
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