HIGH SCHOOL SOCCER: 'Dogs, Highlanders come together for common goal
Sep. 15—NEW ALBANY — Some things are bigger than rivalries, or sports, and Thursday night will be one of those occasions at Green Valley Elementary School.
The boys' and girls' soccer teams from Floyd Central and New Albany will face off in a Hoosier Hills Conference doubleheader but, more importantly, the two rivals will also be joining forces for a common goal — suicide awareness and prevention.
"I think it's really cool for all of us to come together for such a big rivalry and still be on the same page about things that are outside of soccer," New Albany girls' coach Rachel Wells said.
Over the past several years the Floyd and New Albany girls have played, while sporting pink and white jerseys, in honor of breast cancer awareness. However earlier this summer first-year Highlander girls' coach Jamie Ochsner, at the suggestion of his wife Whitney, approached Wells with the idea of changing the focus of this year's match.
So tonight the Floyd Central girls will wear white jerseys with a teal and purple ribbon (for suicide prevention/awareness) on them, along with the words "be kind." Meanwhile the Bulldogs will sport black jerseys with a teal and purple ribbon, as well as the words "be kind" and the initials "ERW."
Those ribbons, words and initials will be in honor of Ella Walker. Walker, who would've been a freshman at New Albany, took her own life in January. She was the younger sister of Bulldogs senior defender Alaina Walker, whom Ochsner used to coach along with his own daughter, Alyssa, who is a senior midfielder for the Highlanders.
"It's really been big on our hearts," New Albany senior goalie Eve White said.
"(Ella) was close to every single girl on the team," Bulldogs senior midfielder Jamie Gaetano added.
The Bulldogs have honored Walker all season with their "Be Kind" warmup shirts and banners. Several other local schools, including Austin, Floyd, Providence and Silver Creek, have put up "Be Kind" banners at their fields as well.
The boys' teams, who play the first match at 6 p.m. this evening, will also wear "Be Kind" warmup shirts. The girls' match is scheduled to kickoff at 8 p.m.
"Suicide is something that is not typically talked about in every day life. So when it does happen to anyone you know, or a family member, it's really hard just because it's not a very talked about topic," New Albany senior midfielder Kaydence Kaiser said. "We're hoping that this game just brings more awareness and makes people more aware that this does happen and that there are ways to prevent it and to get people help before they start contemplating getting that far along."
Tonight there will be a box for monetary donations at the entrance gate. Additionally raffle tickets, for a minimum of a $1 donation, will also be sold. One hundred percent of the money raised will go to the Jed Foundation, a non-profit organization that works to protect the emotional health and prevent suicide among teens and young adults. It partners with high schools and colleges to strengthen mental health and suicide prevention programs and systems.
"The Jed Foundation is something that targets going into schools and helping them actually have the tools to prevent these kind of things," Wells said. "So fundraising for that, even though that isn't actually in place here yet in any of our schools — Floyd or New Albany — it's something that we think is very important. I know the long-term goal is to try to get those kind of things into our schools so we can all be better equipped — from parents and coaches, to kids and teachers and administration and faculty, everyone — so we can all fight it together.
"At the end of the day, the donation is not going to be the big takeaway," Wells said. "It's to talk about those serious things that aren't easily talked about. Just to have that as our overarching foundation/donation theme is starting the conversation, and that's really what we want."
