10月29日, former Los Angeles Laker Metta World Peace donned a 威尼斯人平台 t-shirt and walked onto the Memorial Chapel stage on the main Redlands campus. After retiring from his 19-year professional basketball career in 2017, World Peace—formerly known as Ron Artest before changing his name in 2011—has filled his schedule with speaking engagements to talk about his life and advocate for access to mental health services.
For the duration of the event, which was sponsored by Diversity Initiatives, Director of 体育运动 杰夫•马丁内斯 and School of Education Counseling Professor 珍妮:都是格雷格 向世界和平组织讲述了他的童年, 运动生涯, 宣传, 以及围绕精神疾病的污名.
Growing up with nine siblings in Queensbridge, 纽约, World Peace started playing basketball early and learned many lessons from the game. He said that developing his athletic skills in a neighborhood plagued by gang violence and drug trafficking made him a better basketball player.
“I thrived in chaos because I was always in it,他说. “但在球场上，我总是能控制局面. 我无所畏惧.”
World Peace cites his father and the drug dealers in his neighborhood as his mentors during his teenage years. His dad introduced him to the game of basketball, and the drug dealers made sure he stayed on the court. 这听起来可能很奇怪,他说, “but they were the ones who kept me off the street and made sure I wasn’t selling [drugs].”
His mother was another important person in his life because she taught him that seeking help to overcome mental and emotional challenges was not something to be ashamed of. 作为一个青少年, World Peace was able to consult counselors and therapists, accepting early on the positive role psychology could play in his life—something he said he feels very lucky to have done.
After being drafted by the Chicago Bulls at age 19, World Peace played for five different National Basketball Association (NBA) teams, 包括印第安纳步行者队, 萨克拉门托国王队, 休斯顿火箭队, 洛杉矶湖人队, 和纽约尼克斯队. Making the transition from collegiate-level athletics to a professional career took its toll on World Peace, who remembers his body being on the court but his mind being at home, 和他的家人.
“I had this huge opportunity to take care of my family, 我不想搞砸了, 所以我会自我毁灭,他说. “I definitely had three different personalities at that time, and it was hard to listen to them all at once.”
While he developed a reputation as one of the league’s best defenders, he was also involved in a number of on-court altercations—one of which resulted in an 86-game suspension, NBA历史上最长的纪录.
在争吵之后的几个月里, World Peace made a deliberate decision to tame his intensity. 在优先考虑他的心理健康之后, he learned to manage his emotions and no longer took what happened on the court personally.
In 2010, World Peace was a key player in the Lakers’ championship game, scoring the final three-point shot and leading the team to victory. 在赛后的采访中，他说 感谢他的心理医生 谢谢你教他如何放松. 后不久, he auctioned off his championship ring and gave the $650,000 proceeds to nonprofit organizations that provided mental health services.
“当我们订购戒指的时候, 我要的是8号的, 尽管我的戒指尺寸是14, because I knew I wanted to use it to raise money to benefit mental health services,他说. “When I look at trophies and awards, all I see is what could have been. 我只想往前走.”
In 2011, World Peace was honored with the J. 沃尔特·肯尼迪公民奖, 每年给NBA球员的奖金, 教练, or staff member who has demonstrated a commitment to the community. Joining a list of recipients that includes Magic Johnson, 史蒂夫-纳什, 和凯文·加内特, World Peace says that this acknowledgment was the most meaningful to him because it recognized that he had made an impact.
In the years following World Peace’s post-game championship interview, 其他NBA球员, such as the Cleveland Cavalier’s Kevin Love and Toronto Raptors’ DeMar DeRozan, have spoken publicly about their struggles with mental illness. 上个月, the NBA implemented a new rule that requires each team to have at least one full-time licensed mental health professional on staff.
在他在雷德兰兹的讲话之后, World Peace took questions from the audience, answering inquiries about current songs on his playlist and who he would pick to play on his dream team.
Reece Koe, 20岁, 男子水球队队员, asked World Peace how he coped with the end of his 运动生涯—something Koe will soon have to face. World Peace responded with sage advice: “Always have something to fall back on that’s fulfilling and makes you happy.”
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