UTRGV Men’s Soccer Team participates in Movember

Ivan Palacios | THE RIDER

In 2003, two friends by the names of Travis Garone and Luke Slattery had an idea to make the moustache fashionable again. Fast forward 17 years, and the moustache has become associated with raising awareness for men’s health issues. 

This year, the UTRGV Men’s Soccer Team made the decision to do their part by participating in Movember.

“This Movember, we have decided to take part and raise awareness for men and the issues related to mental health,” said junior forward Alex Frank in a Nov. 11 news release. “Speaking and taking part in this cause is a great way to address the importance of men’s health. The importance of Movember is to make men’s health a top priority. We want to help raise awareness of the underlying issues and encourage anyone to participate in the Move for Movember movement.”

According to the Movember website, the mission of the organization is to raise awareness on men’s health issues, such as prostate and testicular cancer, suicide and overall mental health.

The Movember charity, which has become the leading charity for men’s health issues, aims to reduce the amount of men dying prematurely by 25%. 

The idea to participate in Movember came to Frank as not only a way to get the team involved, but also as a way to do their part.

“I just felt it would be a cool way to get my teammates involved,” he said. “We talked about it, and the coaches thought it’d be a good idea to get the whole team involved in everything and see what we can do. We reached out to Daniel [Elizondo, assistant athletic director for communications,] and we got something done.”

While some choose to grow out their moustaches, the men’s soccer team made the decision to participate in the Move for Movember movement.

In order to raise awareness about suicide in men, the Movember Foundation challenged participants to walk or run 60 miles in the month of November. According to the Movember website, the number 60 was chosen to represent the 60 men who are lost to suicide each hour around the world.

“Personally, the goal for me was just to challenge myself to see if I could run the 60 miles and spread awareness about the cause,” Frank said. “That’s the most important thing that I wanted to get through. It’s cool to see if all our teammates participate in this, and they let their friends know, and their friends and family know, spreading the word. Just to get the cause out there and let people know why we’re doing it.”

Junior defender Elyad Shojaei said he hopes he can help erase the stigma that comes with men’s health issues. 

“I think for a lot of us who play sports, especially at a high level, we’ve all been through tough times, at one point or another,” Shojaei said. “I think there’s, especially for men, a little bit of a stigma when it comes to mental health. So, as somebody who, at one point in my life, I was affected by this, I think [Movember] was definitely something for me to get behind.”

He hopes the team’s participation in the movement can help shed light on men’s issues to the Rio Grande Valley community. 

“The most important thing, I think, is awareness,” Shojaei said. “I think mental health is just like your overall health. It’s like getting a sprained ankle or hurting your knee. You need to go speak to somebody. I think, again, for men there’s a little of a stigma around that. So, if we can break that stigma and get people to feel it’s okay and go get help, I think it’ll be very important for what we’re trying to reach this November.”

For more information on how to participate in the Movember movement, or to learn more about its history and men’s mental health issues, visit https://us.movember.com.