History-Making Gotcha4Life Cup 2022 Tackles Mental Fitness Head-On

The energy of the 13,000-strong crowd at 4 Pines Park on Thursday night for the Gotcha4Life Cup was contagious! As we assembled as a team to take our positions around the grounds, we knew that the months of preparation and anticipation were about to culminate in something really amazing.

On Thursday evening, off the back of a tumultuous week, the Manly Warringah Sea Eagles and the Sydney Roosters, went head-to-head for the Gotcha4Life Cup – and boy, what an incredible evening it was.

Despite the controversy that surrounded the match, one thing that every person watching the Gotcha4Life Cup from 4 Pines Park in Brookvale, or at home, could agree on, was that building your mental fitness is an important topic to tackle.

Driving awareness and prompting action to build mental fitness, by having healthier conversations that go beyond the banter, and looking after each other is the major reason the two teams took the field on Thursday night. Despite an explosive on-field performance as both teams vied for the cup and the all-important 2-points - both clubs and all players were united in sharing this important and timely message.

With suicide taking the lives of nine people across Australia every day, the Gotcha4Life Cup was developed to raise awareness around the concept of mental fitness, and encourage us all to take simple steps to build our emotional muscle, not just our physical ones.

Footy players know all about physical fitness - it’s their livelihood - but mental fitness is something that many people are only just coming to understand.

Mental fitness refers to all the daily things we do to help build our mental and emotional fitness. It includes things like learning to talk about our feelings instead of bottling them up, and learning to confide in someone when things aren’t going your way. Importantly, our mental fitness determines to a large extent, how we respond to the challenges and stress we face in our lives.  

In the lead up to the Gotcha4Life Cup, some of the Sydney Roosters and Manly Sea Eagles players who are also Gotcha4Life ambassadors, spoke to Gus Worland about what it means to be mentally fit.

James Tedesco from the Sydney Roosters shared, “I found out early on that being honest has been good for me. Sometimes as footy players, we shy away from it and don’t talk about our emotions. Sometimes it might feel like there’s no one to talk to but there’s so many people out there, especially in our team – our staff, family and friends. There are so many people you can rely on. The main thing is to get it off your chest and don’t let it weigh you down.”

Tom Trbojevic from the Manly Sea Eagles added, “This game is special. We’re all on the same team off the field fighting mental health and fitness concerns. A lot of people go through a lot of different challenges. If you don’t have that strong mate group, it’s harder to get through. It’s really important to make sure you go beyond someone saying they’re good to find out how they’re really feeling. People often put on a front. It’s important that we break that down to address any issues they may have.”

Our Founder, Gus Worland has been clear from the start what the Cup is all about, “The key thing we want everyone who watches this match to take away is that mental fitness is as important as physical fitness. You need to train to be your best and it really helps to have a coach.

“When we talk about training, from a mental fitness point-of-view, we’re talking about anything you do to ensure that you’re in a good mental state to overcome the stresses and challenges that everyday life throws at us. It could be exercise, or spending time with loved ones, but even more so it is about talking to a mate about how you are really feeling, and getting beyond the banter to support each other.”

Was it amazing? You bet. The teams battled it out and at the end of the evening, Tedesco the Roosters captain, shared how much the game meant to him, and what a privilege it was to be part of such an epic event that raised more than $300,000. We are so grateful to every player who took the field on Thursday night to show their support for building a more mentally fit Australia.

Because of the generosity of Shaw and Partners Financial Services, Unibet and the Manly Sea Eagles who all donated $100,000 each, over $300,000 can be invested into running mental fitness workshops around Australia.

In addition, the signed players jerseys are currently being auctioned, with all proceeds going to Gotcha4Life.

The mental fitness workshops that are delivered to schools, sports clubs, in organisations and communities help us all to build our emotional muscle, and this is where we can all start to make some real change, getting us closer to our vision of zero suicides.