08/26/2026
The car ride home after a game can carry a lot more than most people realize.
A parent might be thinking about the score, a missed opportunity, a questionable call, or something their child could have done differently. Meanwhile, the athlete sitting beside them may already be replaying every mistake and wondering if they let everyone down.
That is where mental wellness in sport becomes very personal.
Sometimes an athlete does not need a breakdown of the game. They need to know that one hard performance has not changed how the people they love see them. They need room to be disappointed without feeling like they have disappointed everyone else.
Sport can build confidence, connection and resilience, but it can also create pressure that follows athletes home. When so much of their identity becomes tied to how well they perform, even one bad game can feel much bigger than it is.
Kamloops Game Changers is working to create better support around that part of sport too.
The Breaking the Ice Gala on September 19 brings our community together for an evening focused on confidence, performance pressure, identity and long-term emotional health in sport, with Stanley Cup champions Joe Watson and Mark Recchi.
Proceeds support the T.E.A.M. Fund, Together Empowering Athletes Mental Wellness, which provides free seminars, workshops, training and resources for athletes, coaches and parents.
If you are raising an athlete, coaching one, or helping shape the culture they grow up in, we would love to have you in the room.
Breaking the Ice Gala
September 19, 2026
Twelve Fifty Venue, Kamloops
Tickets: $197
Tables of 8: $1,400
https://www.kamloopsgamechangers.ca/mission
Sometimes the best thing you can give an athlete after a hard game is the certainty that your love and pride were never riding on the score.
