Marlins open Mental Health Awareness Month with panel featuring pitcher Trevor Rogers

The Miami Marlins opened Mental Health Awareness Month with a Great Minds — Great Athletes (GMGA) panel hosted by the Miami Marlins Foundation and Miami-Dade County Public Schools (MDCPS). Held on May 1 at American Senior High School, the third annual panel featured Marlins pitcher Trevor Rogers, Marlins Mental Skills Coach Marius Aleksa, Marlins Manager of Player Care and Service Colleen Mitchell, and two student-athletes.

“It’s very important for me because I was in their shoes,” said Rogers. “I remember how hard it was to be a student-athlete, how stressful it was with schoolwork and trying to be the best athlete that I can be.”

Created during the 2020–21 school year in partnership with the Miami Marlins Foundation, MDCPS, and Positive Coaching Alliance, the GMGA program has impacted over 15,000 MDCPS student athletes through live and virtual workshops. The first-of-its-kind program in South Florida provides support for student-athletes, as well as their parents, coaches, and school administration, with a focus on creating a sustainable, lasting culture change regarding mental and emotional wellness.

“I think it’s awesome that they are providing this resource at such a young age, and if they can apply that moving forward, I think they are going to be set up for success,” said Aleksa. “These are resources I wish I had when I was in high school. As we move along and get more specialized with it in professional sports, to be able to give this back to the kids is awesome.”

With Bally Sports Florida’s Kelly Saco moderating, the panelists shared their respective approaches to mental health before answering questions from student-athletes in the audience.

Rogers said his overall goal for the day was to “hopefully just reach one kid.”

He added, “I want them to know that they’re not alone. I always thought, and probably a lot of these kids do too, that when you’re going through struggles, you feel isolated. There are people to reach out to who are always on your side.”

Through his answers, Rogers also addressed and sought to break the stigma about males discussing mental health.

“Men in general don’t like talking about this stuff,” he said. “There are times when I don’t want to talk about this stuff, but that’s what gets us in trouble. We don’t like to talk about it and think we can do it by ourselves, but nobody can do this or do life by themselves.”

Rogers practiced what he preached by opening up regarding personal mental battles that he has overcome and still faces.

“I think it means a lot to [the student-athletes] to know that whatever they’re feeling or going through, professional athletes have felt the same emotions of highs and lows,” said Stephen Papp, American Senior High School Principal.

Aleksa shared this sentiment, saying, “For Trevor to come here and be that open, honest, and vulnerable sharing his struggles and failures, I think it does a lot for a high school student. They see that he is a professional, who has failed and struggled, but is still standing here with a Marlins jersey. I think that’s incredibly powerful for these kids to realize that you can struggle and fail, but still have success.”

Upon the panel’s conclusion, Rogers took photos with the group and individual student-athletes.

From this gesture and his answers to Rogers simply taking the time out of his busy schedule to be there, Papp had high praise for him.

“I think it shows tremendous character, and I thought everything that he spoke about today really resonated with the students,” said Papp. “I know he’s a pitcher, but he hit a home run.”