In episode 31 of telling their stories, Team Performance and Defensive Line Coach for the Guelph Gryphons football team, Adam Kania, expresses his thoughts on the mental health conversation.Kania joined the Guelph Gryphon coaching staff in June 2019. He is a former St. FX X-Man (BA. Canadian History) and Waterloo Warrior (Masters of Arts, History). He also spent a year in the CFL with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats in 2008. Listen as he shares his football journey and why the "Serenity Prayer", written by the American theologian Reinhold Niebuhr, holds special meaning for him.Fragments by Nomyn https://soundcloud.com/nomynCreative Commons — Attribution 3.0 Unported — CC BY 3.0Free Download / Stream: http://bit.ly/l-fragmentsMusic promoted by Audio Library https://youtu.be/ndyyIhwojys

Jim Mullin, Vancouver-based broadcaster, producer and promoter, was elected as President of Football Canada in June of 2019.He is the producer and host of Krown Gridiron Nation on The Sports Network. He also hosted and produced Krown Countdown U Radio on the TSN Radio Network. He was also the play-by-play voice for SHAW TV/Global TV for 10 years from 2007-2016. In addition to multiple other broadcasting positions, Mullin is one of the two patrons of the Jon Cornish Trophy, presented annually to the top Canadian in NCAA Football and was one of the project partners behind the proposed Northern 8 football series, which would have scheduled the eight top Canadian university football teams (U Sports) in a series of games for national television.Mulling shares with us a very personal story of how mental health has affected him directly and how from that, everything that he has done and now does is a direct representation of his upbringing.Fragments by Nomyn https://soundcloud.com/nomynCreative Commons — Attribution 3.0 Unported — CC BY 3.0Free Download / Stream: http://bit.ly/l-fragmentsMusic promoted by Audio Library https://youtu.be/ndyyIhwojys

In episode 30 of telling their stories, Executive Director at Life Choice Dynamics, Jack Fulton, gives a message of hope and how he is working to change the loss of hope, depression, addiction and worse, that many professional football players face once their playing days are over. Statistics show a very high number of professional football players are not equipped to enter into life after football which can lead to a string of personal failures in the workforce, family, and life in general. Life Choice Dynamics is an advisory board made of past CFL Hall of Fame players and current CFL stars has been formed with the goal of assisting CFL players prepare for the transition from a career in professional football to a successful career after the cheering stops.LCD is committed to the purpose of "Initiating Change" in the lives of young CFL players who could otherwise be facing a devastating future after football. Fragments by Nomyn https://soundcloud.com/nomynCreative Commons — Attribution 3.0 Unported — CC BY 3.0Free Download / Stream: http://bit.ly/l-fragmentsMusic promoted by Audio Library https://youtu.be/ndyyIhwojys

In episode 29 of telling their stories, head coach for the Queen's Women's football club and receiver's coach and community outreach coordinator for the Queen's men's football program, Kwame Osei, reveals some hard lessons that he learned growing up in Rexdale, Ontario. He also gets real about his football journey and how he turned his life around by changing his own narrative. Osei started playing football in his Grade 9 year before finding his way to StFX University in the AUS conference of U SPORTS. According to the release, Osei signed as a free agent with the Toronto Argonauts in the CFL before returning to the Education program at StFX for his final year.Osei then spent seven years inspiring the next generation of players as a dynamic public speaker, physical education and sports performance teacher and coach at Holy Trinity High School in Fort McMurray, Alberta and a member of the coaching staff for the Team Alberta U16 provincial football team.Amazing Race Canada Finalist.CEO of Triumph Elite.Co- Founder of Northern Elite FootballAuthor of "If Not Me Then Who"Author of “Turtle In The Shell”Fragments by Nomyn https://soundcloud.com/nomynCreative Commons — Attribution 3.0 Unported — CC BY 3.0Free Download / Stream: http://bit.ly/l-fragmentsMusic promoted by Audio Library https://youtu.be/ndyyIhwojys

Andrew Peirson, Offensive Lineman for the BC Lions from Kingston, Ontario, recently signed a one-year contract extension with the Lions. He dressed for one game in 2019 (vs Saskatchewan) while spending the majority of the season on the club’s practice roster. However, his work ethic earned him a team nomination for the annual Tom Pate Award.In 2018, he was an undrafted free agent and earned a spot on the Lions’ practice roster and started at centre during the last five games of the regular season for the Lions and earned the start for the East Division Semi-Final against the Hamilton Tiger-Cats.In addition, he holds a double major in Finance and Entrepreneurship from Gannon University where he played in 29 games over your four-year career. He also earned multiple Division II academic awards and a Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference scholar athlete award in 2015.Peirson gets real about playing at the pro level and how he believes that using his platform to encourage others with their mental health journey is important to him. Fragments by Nomyn https://soundcloud.com/nomynCreative Commons — Attribution 3.0 Unported — CC BY 3.0Free Download / Stream: http://bit.ly/l-fragmentsMusic promoted by Audio Library https://youtu.be/ndyyIhwojys

In episode 28 of telling their stories, quarterback for the University of Alberta Golden Bears, Luke Hornung, gets real about his football journey and the mental health challenges he's faced and how he is using his platform to bring more attention to this issue. He also shares with us a poem that he wrote after a close friend passed by suicide.Fragments by Nomyn https://soundcloud.com/nomynCreative Commons — Attribution 3.0 Unported — CC BY 3.0Free Download / Stream: http://bit.ly/l-fragmentsMusic promoted by Audio Library https://youtu.be/ndyyIhwojys

In episode 27 of telling their stories, Nate Taylor, Special Teams and Recruiting Coordinator, Receivers and defensive backs coach for the University of Ottawa Gee-Gees gives us some down-to-earth wisdom as well as personal testimony on his own personal football journey. Fragments by Nomyn https://soundcloud.com/nomynCreative Commons — Attribution 3.0 Unported — CC BY 3.0Free Download / Stream: http://bit.ly/l-fragmentsMusic promoted by Audio Library https://youtu.be/ndyyIhwojys

In episode 26 of telling their stories, Hall of Fame broadcaster, Rod Pedersen, founded Pedersen Recovery Inc. where he serves as a Sober Coach for athletes and entertainers battling Addictions & Mental Illness, and is an outspoken Recovery Advocate serving as a keynote speaker.Previously, he spent 20 seasons as Voice of the CFL’s Saskatchewan Roughriders on CKRM Radio.Among his accomplishments are calling four Grey Cups on national radio and the 2012 World Junior Hockey Championships on the Sportsnet Radio Network.Rod’s career includes 17 years as a play-by-play broadcaster in the Western Hockey League (1993-95 Prince Albert Raiders, 1995-2010 Regina Pats), making him the longest tenured play-by-play man in Regina Pats history.  He has also called games for the Great Falls Americans of the AFHL.Rod has had stints on network television with Rogers Sportsnet and The Score as a regional correspondent. He’s also a best-selling author and his website RodPedersen.com has twice been voted Canada’s Sports Blog of the Year, with over 25-million all-time hits.In 2003, he was inducted into Saskatchewan’s Rural Sports Hall of Fame.Fragments by Nomyn https://soundcloud.com/nomynCreative Commons — Attribution 3.0 Unported — CC BY 3.0Free Download / Stream: http://bit.ly/l-fragmentsMusic promoted by Audio Library https://youtu.be/ndyyIhwojys

Offensive coordinator with the Calgary Dinos, Pat Sheahan, shares years of valuable insight for April's TACKLE TALK.Coach Sheahan played college ball for the Concordia Stingers in Montreal, Quebec. He began his collegiate coaching career as the assistant head coach for the McGill Redmen in 1984 until 1988, winning a Vanier Cup championship in 1987.He was hired as head coach for the Concordia Stingers in 1989 and led the program to their first Vanier Cup appearance in 1998. He then became head coach for the Queen's Golden Gaels in 2000 and won his first Vanier Cup as a head coach in 2009. He was with the Gaels until 2018 when he then made the move to the Calgary Dinos - his current position. He won his third Vanier Cup in 2019 as the offensive coordinator with the Dinos.Coach Sheahan was named CIS (USports) coach of the year in 2008.Fragments by Nomyn https://soundcloud.com/nomynCreative Commons — Attribution 3.0 Unported — CC BY 3.0Free Download / Stream: http://bit.ly/l-fragmentsMusic promoted by Audio Library https://youtu.be/ndyyIhwojys

In episode 25 of telling their stories, Postdoctoral Researcher in Sport for Development and lecturer at HEC Montreal, William Falcao, educates us on various sport development research, the importance of relationships between coach and athlete, and moving from a performance coach to life coach. Falcao breaks down coaching into 3 types of coaches and how to improve on each aspect of them to become better at coaching and developing young athletes. Fragments by Nomyn https://soundcloud.com/nomynCreative Commons — Attribution 3.0 Unported — CC BY 3.0Free Download / Stream: http://bit.ly/l-fragmentsMusic promoted by Audio Library https://youtu.be/ndyyIhwojys