AMEND Together:
In a middle-school cafeteria, sunlight streaming in after the final bell had rung for the day, 24 teenagers gathered to answer the question: What does it mean to be a real man?
Hands went up and thoughts were jotted down, all while two professional athletes watched from the back of the room, taking in the ideas from Nashville's youth.
It was an important discussion at the AMEND Club meeting within the halls of Jere Baxter Middle School, a conversation that soon turned the attention to Mattias Ekholm and Craig Smith with the question - What does it mean to be a real athlete?
Perhaps no one was better suited to field that inquiry than the two members of the Nashville Predators, and they did so while working with an organization the franchise has developed a close relationship with over the past few years. AMEND Together, in conjunction with the YWCA of Nashville and Middle Tennessee, owns a mission of making Nashville the safest city for women and girls in the entire country while teaching young me about healthy masculinity.
After discussions were had, students were allowed to pose questions to Smith and Ekholm before a massive game of floor hockey commenced with the Preds sharing their skills with their new mentees.
"They're superstars, they're role models for this community, and especially these young men, they look up to them," VP of External Affairs and AMEND Together Shan Foster said. "To have them here talking about healthy manhood and what it means to be a man and how to value and respect women and girls, seeing that from your role models is really important. It's just an invaluable opportunity for them to really give back to the community in a meaningful way."
Ekholm, a young father himself, realizes the importance of the program and believes it's vital to have these conversations. As a professional athlete, the defenseman also knows the role he plays in making his community a better place.
"Some of the questions today were something like, 'How it is to be famous?' And I think this is the responsibility, if you want to call us famous, to give back," Ekholm said. "Maybe we can put some thought into some of these students' brains to be respectable to whoever you meet out there. That's a huge thing, and I think the Predators do a great job of just being out in the community, whether it be AMEND or going to Children's Hospital, anything. It's a no-brainer for us, and it's fun to spend an afternoon like this."
- Brooks Bratten