The Star: July 13, 2023

The Star Thursday July 13 2023
18
NEWS
Latest Canterbury news at starnews.co.nz
Sportsmen take on mental health
• By Briar Allen
FROM THE field to friends
to founders, three former
sportsmen have created a new
not-for-profit group to help
men’s mental health.
BetterMan was founded
by former rugby player
Ged Robinson (Crusaders,
Highlanders), who is the
Canterbury Sports development
programme manager, excricketer
Todd Astle (Black
Caps, Canterbury) and former
footballer and ANZCO Food
digital marketing manager Ryan
Astle (Hokowhitu Zodiacs).
Todd Astle, who runs a mental
skills coaching business called
Innerspin, said they wanted to
collaborate on something and
started throwing ideas around.
“Lads Without Labels reached
out to me to speak at one of
their events and something
just clicked, but we wanted to
do something aimed at men
who are aged between 22 and
50-years-old,” he said.
Astle said they had all strived
to be better at their sports and
wanted to improve other aspects
of their lives. They invited others
to join them on their mental
health and personal growth
journey.
“People can become disconnected
and lose a sense of
themselves. I officially retired
a couple months ago, had my
formal drinks and goodbyes but
I only just left the Canterbury
Whatsapp chat and that was the
hardest thing as that’s your last
tether to that camaraderie and
competition and being updated
on what’s going on.”
BetterMan will put on events
to try and re-create that camaraderie
and build up the community
under their mantra BYC.
“BYC – it’s easy to remember
as it stands for
backyard
cricket, but it
also stands
for betterment,
which is about becoming the
best version of yourself, (and)
yarns, which is having those
conversations and competition
which is about the passion we
have for it and building it up,”
he said.
Their first event will be the
Quiz & Some Other Shizz night
at the Halswell Rugby League
clubrooms at 7pm next Friday.
Astle said it will be more than a
standard quiz night.
“We wanted the kind
of events people could get
excited and charged up about
while having underlying messages
about
mental
health.
“We
wanted
events
that went beyond what you
would normally expect from that
event. We wanted to have those
connections and bring that positive
feeling of competition and
connection with our events.”
Sports commentator Scotty
Stevenson will be the MC and
quiz-master. Astle said Stevenson
has an incredible story to
tell, which he hoped would encourage
others to open up about
their mental health and reach
Scotty
Stevenson
out for support.
They have some
games planned
for the event
which is almost
at full capacity.
“We have
lots of ideas
for the future
that we want to
build off of this
first event. Events in relation to
people’s friendships, parenting
and partners. We hope in
the future to continue to
create these opportunities
as there is so much potential
and break down these
boundaries.”
Astle thanked everyone
who has supported
and helped them start
BetterMan
“We are really amazed
at the support we have
had. It is cool to see the
momentum we have gained
so far, and we can’t wait to
see where this goes.”
IMPROVING:
BetterMan founders
(from left) Ryan Astle,
Todd Astle and Ged
Robinson get ready
for their first event in
Halswell next week.
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