Meet Aaron Crook, Adelaide Dad and proud Adelaide Crows supporter who is about to tackle the biggest physical and mental challenge of his life. All in the name of youth mental health, raising funds for The Sebastian Foundation via our wonderful partner, Adelaide Crows Foundation.
In February, Aaron will compete in the 6633 Arctic Ultra, a gruelling 660km race in northwest Canada, in freezing temperatures, to raise fund to help us bring Open Parachute to more South Australian kids.
“It’s far more a mental challenge than a physical one, within less than 24 hours of the race starting your body is already shot and you’re aching in pain,” Crook said.
“Sleep deprivation also poses very real challenges for your state of mind.
“The only thing that can get you through is a willingness to put one foot in front of the next and to keep running, and that’s all in your mind.
“I think it’s going to be really, really hard, even now I have trouble imagining how I will get to the end of it, but I’ve been in situations like that before and I’ve always found a way, I’m confident that’ll be the case this time as well.”
Through our partnership with The Adelaide Crows Foundation, we currently support more than 18,000 children across South Australia through the Open Parachute in-school mental health program.
Every $15 raised will provide a primary or secondary student access to the program for an entire school year.
Aaron's six-year-old son James is a huge Crows fan and will be participating in the Open Parachute program at his primary school later this year.
“My son James has really found a personality through the Crows… as soon as he saw the Crows and how the game worked, he was absolutely hooked,” Crook said.
“Seeing the Club’s willingness to bring in kids to the Club, James has been to a number of training sessions and always comes out glowing.
“The Crows Foundation has been doing great work, and it seemed to me like the obvious thing to support (with the run) given the work is so valuable and how much of a Crows fan James is.”
The father of two said it was important to teach kids the resilience to overcome the challenges life throws at them.
“The Open Parachute program is so important to give kids tools they can use early on,” Crook said.
“I think how difficult it is now for children navigating those years heading into high school, with social media too which was never around when I was a kid, I can’t even imagine how difficult it would be navigating those emotions, given the emergence of these new challenges.
“So, if we can give them the skills and resources to prepare them and tackle these issues they come across, that can really help them get through school and also help them become great young adults.”
Click here to donate to Aaron Crook’s run to help make a meaningful difference to youth mental health.