Twin Falls High School senior hosts pickleball tournament for suicide prevention and mental health awareness
Tejay Holstine a Twin Falls High School senior hosted the event at Frontier Park this past weekend.
TWIN FALLS, Idaho (KMVT/KSVT) — What were you doing as a high school senior? The answer to that question will certainly vary depending on which generation you ask, and one current twin falls high school senior is making a difference in his community through the game of pickleball.
Twin Falls High School Senior Tejay Holstine is no stranger to loss at a young age.
“So, I lost my grandpa to suicide about eleven years ago and then this past 18 months I’ve lost two [more] childhood friends to suicide,” Holstine said.
These losses inspired Holstine to honor his friends and grandfather for his senior project.
Tejay decided a pickleball tournament for mental health awareness and suicide prevention would be his goal and he gave it the name Project A.C.E or the ACE pickleball tournament.
“The ‘a’ stands for asking, like asking loved ones if they are feeling suicidal and stuff. The ‘c’ stands for care and showing [people] that you care for them and want to give them help. And [’e’] encourage is to encourage them to go get professional help to help them,” Holstine said.
Tejay’s tournament offered many booths of mental health advocates who were in attendance offering resources, so people know where to go and what to do when they have a mental health emergency.
Proceeds raised at the tournament through vendors were going toward the Optimal Brain Center of Idaho and BPA is paying for counseling for Twin Falls School District kids and families.
“The more we can discuss that we all are going through stuff especially times like this, the easier it is for us all to relate to one another. Anything with a great cause and to come out and play some pickleball couldn’t be better,” Jessie Williams one of the players said.
Holstine’s tournament attracted a total of 60 “pickleballers” who filled all 30 of the two person teams in three separate brackets based on skill.
Each player also received a “Jake Duck” which is a rubber duck with a message of positivity on each one and is named after 2022 filer high school valedictorian Jake Bowman who also lost his life to suicide.
Holstine’s initiative in planning and executing this event is something most high school seniors couldn’t even fathom, but Tejay took on the challenge head-on and put on an amazing event for an even better cause combining the world of sports with mental health awareness.
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