Basketball: The Mental Health Game for Native Teens and Children on the Zuni Reservation

Danny Avery Homer

Pueblo of Zuni and Hopi

Homer, Danny. Personal Photo 1. 18 February, 2025.

“Zuni Tribe Flag.” Infobase, Facts On File. American Indian History, online.infobase.com/Auth/Index?aid=18626&itemid=WE43&iid=202506. Accessed 8 Oct. 2024.

“Hopi Tribe of Arizona Flag.” Infobase, Facts On File. American Indian History, online.infobase.com/Auth/Index?aid=18626&itemid=WE43&iid=244822. Accessed 8 Oct. 2024.

Identity

Homer, Danny. Personal Photo 2. 23 June, 2023.

Sharing One Skin:

By Jeanette Armstrong

In the article, “Sharing One Skin,” by Jeanette Armstrong, Armstrong is expressing how all of us Indigenous people must all come together to help out one another. To make every Indigenous person to make a connection to their community, to our lovely Mother Earth, but the most important is to themselves. Lastly, Jeanette shares an important meaning from the Okanagan Tribe. Jeanette Armstrong said “Our one skin. This means that we share more than a place; We share a physical tie that is uniquely human.”(pg.3) She expresses how we are more than just a place, but every Indigenous person shares a real connection to another person.

Armstrong, Jeanette. “Sharing One Skin: The Okanagan Community,” in Jerry Mander and Edward Goldsmith (eds), The Case Against the Global Economy. San Francisco, CA, Sierra Club Books, 1996. Pp 460-470.

How Place Names Impact The Way We See Landscape:

By B. Toastie

Memories and stories are connected to our land as described by. B. Toastie in the article “How place names impact the way we see the landscape.” Toastie’s article is about landscapes of how important they are to a certain tribe, the stories that have a meaning behind the landscapes, how the history helps keep the landscapes of who they are, and how the landscapes are iconic in today’s world. Lastly, anthropologist Philip Cash Cash also believes that Indigenous landscapes can be seen in an inner experience, but he knows that the landscape has a meaning within the community mind. Laura Tohe said “A lot of places are attached to the story. And these names are important for us to remember, because they’re telling us something about ourselves and our past.” (pg.2) This quote means a lot, because all of the historical monuments that belong to Native Americans have a meaning and a significance story that leads back into the history and how it withholds leading into the future and so on.

Toastie, B. “How place names impact the way we see landscape.” High Country News: Know the West, 1 May 2022, https://www.hcn.org/issues/54.5/people-places-how-place-names-impact- the-way-we-see-landscape.

Homer, Danny. Personal Photo 3. 13 September, 2024.

Homer, Danny. Personal Photo 4. 7 September, 2024.

And Then I Went To School:

By Joe Suina

An article “And then I went to school” by Joe Suina, Suina is sharing his story about how going to school at the age of 6 was an interesting, out of the ordinary experience. He expresses his very connected relationship with his grandmother, family and most especially his tradition & culture. He encountered to learn the English Language, how big of an impact it made on his life, and when Joe was at school, he made comparisons of how living with his grandmother is not all luxury and more work to living, while for a white folk to live in luxury, and to be comfortable. Joe Suina said “ The English Language and the new set of volumes caused me much anxiety and embarrassment.” (pg.2-3). I chose this quote because Joe Suina expresses how the English Language affected him greatly and prevented him from speaking his Native Language. Also, how speaking the English Language had his grandmother, his brothers and sisters to not understand him fully when speaking the English Language.

Suina, Joseph “And I went to school” memories of a pueblo childhood,”. New Mexico Journal of Reading, Winter 1985, Vol. V, No.2.

History

Effects of Physical Fitness and Mental Hardness on the Performance of Elite Male Basketball Players: By Sertac Ercis

The Mental Health of all elite basketball players can either sometimes turn out good or worse case, can lead into serious situations. In many cases, Mental hardness is one of the main characteristics of a person’s personality, and sometimes many or all basketball players find many methods to help them relieve their stress (ex. Listen to music, read books, etc.) It also explains the impact on the people who have a disability. The study and thoughts shared that athletes with a disability say it’s an interesting, diverse, but most challenging part of their lives. Sertaç Erciş said “Mental Hardness is one of the characteristics of personality.” (pg.56) I chose this quote, because Mental Health is one of the main characteristics for a person, to always make sure that the person’s mental health is up to the standards, nothing wrong and to check up on themselves every once in a while.

Ercis, Sertaç. "Effects of Physical Fitness and Mental Hardness on the Performance of Elite Male Basketball Players." Journal of education and training studies 6.n9a (2018): 56-60.

Homer, Danny. Personal Photo 5. 24 January, 2023.

Homer, Danny. Personal Photo 6. 9 July, 2022.

He was a 'one of a kind' wonderful bloke, then one day he didn't come home: By Amy Fenton

Sometimes our Mental Health is like a person, it can talk to us or even lead ourselves of what we should do as humans. When we hear about someone who passed away from a little bit of stress and with the overwhelming amount of confusion, it is truly heartbreaking to hear. When hearing about how a college student Johnny Carlton has taken his life, but no reasoning of why he would take his own life. How many of his friends and his girlfriend were also wondering why Carlton would do this? Lucas Ngai, Johnny Carlton’s friend said “Life is so cruel, and so unfair. It truly is.” (pg.2) I chose this quote, because sometimes life can be tough for many of us, and that uncertain situations can happen, whether it be about a person or if it’s their mental health breaking down, we must always need to make sure about someone else too.

"He was a 'one of a kind' wonderful bloke, then one day he didn't come home; Johnny Carlton's family and friends say there had been no indication or reason why he would want to take his own life and no history of mental health issues." Rossendale Free Press [Oldham, England], 2 June 2024, p. NA. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A796079920/ITOF?u=nm_s_santafeis&sid=ebsco&xid=f729b810. Accessed 30 Sept. 2024.

Teenagers' Mental Health: By Salem Press Encyclopedia of Health

Most or all of teenagers have gone through a rough patch in their life, where they experienced mental breakdowns. It’s not only just teenagers, but also parents as well. It can show all signs and symptoms of a person is not okay, and how we can figure out ways to help out the person. Many studies from various organizations have results, do their research and try to help out the teens or adults that need the critical help. G. Stanley Hall said “Many teenagers lead happy, satisfying lives and sustain positive outlooks even when faced with innumerable challenges.” (pg.1) This quote means a lot, because when facing challenges that can affect the mental health of a person, child or an elderly person, many suffer from depression, which is the main cause of a mental breakdown, and how we can help out many people that need the critical help. My meaning in a summary is that all teenagers go through a phrase in their young lives of dealing with any problems within their Mental Health. Whether it’s anxiety, depression and many more to state about, it’s always the main critical for any teenager to phrase through in their young lives. It’s best to reach out to your family members to help out any teenager, who is dealing with any problems involving their mental health, to do a check-up with their doctor and if so, to reach out to a therapist for any additional help.

Ladd, George T. “Teenagers’ Mental Health.” Salem Press Encyclopedia of Health, May 2024. EBSCOhost, research.ebsco.com/linkprocessor/plink?id=0fd18b06-e182-30b7-adad-d836496d4cdf.

Homer, Danny. Personal Photo 7. 29 August, 2024.

Current State of the Issue

Homer, Danny. Personal Photo 8. 25 October, 2024.

The Benefits of Sports for the Physical and Mental Health of Adolescents:

By Maria Stamova Vakrilova Becheva

Adolescents don’t have the best ability within themselves in their own bodies, but playing sports helps them to become more capable of who they truly are as athletic people. Many have problems affecting their mental health, and sometimes it’s not good to have anyone going through a mental breakdown. It’s truly important for not only children and adolescents, but to everyone else, to not have anyone going through anything affecting their mental health and to use sports as an ability to get through anything in life. “It is necessary to encourage a love for sports and sports activities should start at an early age.” (pg.4) This quote stood out to me, because I believe that parents teach their young children their favorite sport and teach their child until they are all grown up.

Vakrilova Becheva, Maria Stamova, et al. "The benefits of sports for the physical and mental health of adolescents." Pharmacia, no. 3, 14 Sept. 2023, pp. 751+. Gale Academic OneFile, dx.doi.org.sfis.idm.oclc.org/10.3897/pharmacia.70.e111888. Accessed 4 Nov. 2024.

Individual Characteristics of Physical and Mental Development and their Connection with Regular Physical Exercises When Playing Basketball:

By Zhigong Shao

Physical and Mental health within the sport of basketball has been an important factor within any basketball player. It also teaches any age, gender and any level of training of basketball to show critical times can be within a person’s problems or struggles, to help with their stress and basketball is what I believe to be a “stress reliever” to all basketball players. This occurs also in other sports within other players as well. “The central focus of the study is to clarify the term of “physical culture of the individual.” (pg.1) I chose this topic, because it’s the main focus of any athletic player and not only the physical, but mental health is also the central important factor of any individual.

Shao, Zhigong, et al. "RETRACTED ARTICLE: Individual characteristics of physical and mental development and their connection with regular physical exercises when playing basketball." Current Psychology, vol. 42, no. 30, Oct. 2023, pp. 25996+. Gale Academic OneFile, dx.doi.org.sfis.idm.oclc.org/10.1007/s12144-022-03692-w. Accessed 4 Nov. 2024.

Homer, Danny. Personal Photo 9. 11 January, 2025.

Global Connections

Homer, Danny. Personal Photo 10. 18 December, 2024.

Developing a Simple Risk Metric for the Effect of Sport-Related Concussion and Physical Pain on Mental Health in the United Kingdom:

By Daniel Walker

The impact on Women in sports and non-athletes with risk factor conditions can really set the main causing problem going on in today’s world of mental health in sports. In cases more important than ever, Women playing in sports shouldn’t have to go through any trouble within their mental health. As well as non-athletes living with conditions that affect their lives, to have the physical pain within themselves does not look great and we must take action quickly. “ Females were found to be almost three times more likely to be depressed than males.” (pg.7) This quote represents everything in the article and how surprising it is that women are dealing with more problems in their mental health in sports than men.

Walker, Daniel, et al. "Developing a simple risk metric for the effect of sport-related concussion and physical pain on mental health." PLoS ONE, vol. 18, no. 10, 13 Oct. 2023, p. e0292751. Gale In Context: Opposing Viewpoints, dx.doi.org.sfis.idm.oclc.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0292751. Accessed 5 Feb. 2025.

Physical Activity, Weight Management and Mental Health during COVID-19 Lockdown: A Cross-Sectional Study of Healthcare Students in China:

By Rong Zhang

In colleges in the United States and worldwide, some or most students have gone through many negative effects that involve the student’s mental health mindset. Whether it affects their education, their exercise health or just everything overall in one setting, students should be more focused on both their physical and mental health. To get where you want to be at, or to finish your major, you need the right mindset to go far. “Such improvements could have long-term benefits for healthcare students and society.” (pg.10) This quote summarizes everything of how any positive improvements on college students can have long, positive goals for each student.

Zhang, Rong, et al. "Physical activity, weight management, and mental health during COVID-19 lockdown: A cross-sectional study of healthcare students in China." PLoS ONE, vol. 19, no. 10, 17 Oct. 2024, p. e0302894. Gale In Context: Opposing Viewpoints, dx.doi.org.sfis.idm.oclc.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0302894. Accessed 5 Feb. 2025.

Homer, Danny. Personal Photo 11. 5 November, 2024.

Homer, Danny. Personal Photo 12. 7 December, 2024.

Long-Term Recreational Exercise Patterns in Adolescents and Young Adults: Trajectory Predictors and Associations with Health, Mental-Health, and Educational Outcomes in Australia:

By Julie Ayliffe Morgan

The world overcomes stress, depression, anxiety and many more factors that appear in our lifetime, but Australia would be the second closest to the United States that deals with mental health issues. It is mainly targeted in the young adults, where sometimes teenagers can’t handle any pressure involving their mental health, but knowing that exercising can be a main key factor to reduce stress for young adults and adolescents in Australia. “ High School, university and vocational colleges are important settings to implement interventions that support young people in establishing regular physical activity.” (pg.18) This quote means that any school level are the main factors and perfect examples of how young people can set goals and resources for those in need of favor.

Morgan, Julie Ayliffe, et al. "Long-term recreational exercise patterns in adolescents and young adults: Trajectory predictors and associations with health, mental-health, and educational outcomes." PLoS ONE, vol. 19, no. 3, 21 Mar. 2024, p. e0284660. Gale In Context: Opposing Viewpoints, dx.doi.org.sfis.idm.oclc.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0284660. Accessed 5 Feb. 2025.

Personal Connection

I love the game of Basketball, and I want to know and see how it affects the minds of young Native athletic teens and children. I chose this topic because I wanna know more about what goes on through the minds of young Native athletic teens and children when they play the game of basketball. The history runs through my family. My family and I love to play and watch the game of basketball. Also, every everytime I come back from a basketball game or workout, my parents always ask me “ How did you feel? What progress have you made? Are you comfortable with where your mentally is at right now?” To know where my heart is for Basketball. Basketball players are dealing with problems outside of the game, it affects their mental health and sometimes it can end in not-so-great situations. Many youth Native teens and children don’t have a connection with their Tradition and culture of where they come from, as they have much for basketball. Native American communities all have a story relation with the mental health for their young children, and how it can be very important as a life lesson.

Homer, Danny. Personal Photo 13. 8 April, 2023.