A local non-profit organization has announced its partnership with celebrity Mixed Martial Artist Johnny Case.
North Bay’s Ignite CHANGE is a local non-profit. Its goal is to work and support athletes dealing with mental health issues (anxiety, depression, etc).
“I just want to say thank you so much for always having my back man. Through the ups and downs and never faltering when it comes to being a good friend. I’m so ready to get back to winning fights and fulfilling my dreams of being world champion," stated Johnny Case in a release.
Organization Founder Devon Teeple says research highlighting sports leadership and the positive impact that it can have on players is something that Ignite CHANGE has become well known for.
“As the Founder of The GM's Perspective & ignite CHANGE I take great pride in and in working with athletes and personalities from all walks of life," said Teeple, who is a former minor pro baseball player.
"Their lives and their stories can provide the reader with more than just a glimpse into their professions, it can showcase the countless positives that truly make them standout from the crowd. I am honoured to partner with Johnny and look forward to sharing his journey to becoming a world champion..”
The GM's Perspective, a well respected source of sports-related content that provides something inherently more than stats and box scores, supports the important mission of Ignite CHANGE.
For Teeple, both personally and professionally, “Sports has always been the constant - with teamwork and the belonging piece always being a calming voice.”
Today an award-winning entrepreneur and athletic mentor, Teeple himself was once a very successful athlete at both the collegiate and professional levels - so his understanding of the struggles athletes can face before, during, and after the game is not just academic.
Teeple is well known for encouraging others to make a difference about things they are passionate about, the way he does. Last year, under his leadership, Ignite CHANGE announced a $1000 scholarship “for students who need assistance to follow their passion in making a difference.” This couldn’t be more fitting, since Ignite CHANGE was founded as Teeples’s own “passion project to maximize people's full potential.”
Teeple points out that supporting each other helps all of us maximize the potential of ourselves, and others, too. “Over the years, relationships come and go,” he says, “but it's the people that stick by you through thick and thin that make all the hard work worth it. From that first time shaking hands, Johnny treated me like a friend. It's that type of mutual respect that can connect people from different worlds. It's that type of relationship that can bring about ideas with purpose to help others who cannot help themselves. That's what ignite CHANGE is all about.”
More about Ignite CHANGE : Website: http://ignite-change.ca
