“You Are Enough:” How Ringor is Supporting Teen Suicide Awareness Education Through Its REVOLUTION Program

In October, we at Extra Inning Softball reported on the most painful of stories and one that we’ve covered way too often: a young athlete who died by suicide.

As the holidays are statistically one of the times of the year when suicides spike—often because those who are despondent feel unloved or unappreciated during what is supposed to be a happy time of celebration—we feel it continues to be a subject that is tough, but imperative, to deal with.

When we published that story—after another similar death of a beautiful young athlete in April—a West Coast parent of a top senior headed to the Pac-12 wrote us the following:

“Just wanted to thank you for your continued effort to shed light on the issue of suicide, depression, anxiety, and mental health in the travel softball community. It is a bigger problem than we all want to admit.”

For that reason, we appreciate the efforts Ringor, based out of Wilsonville, Oregon, has made in supporting teen suicide awareness education through its REVOLTION program, where ALL product sales are donated to organizations dedicated to battling this troubling plague affecting young people.

Products that can be purchased include a:

• You Are Enough tee-shirt
• You Are Enough sticker pack
• You Are Enough tumbler

Per the Ringor REVOLUTION website, the sobering statics are that:

• suicide is the 2^nd leading cause of death in ages 10-24
• the number of suicides in ages 10-14 has more than doubled since 2006,
• on average, there are 3,069 suicide attempts daily in grades 9-12

As the company wrote on its website:

“At Ringor, we believe that softball is more than a game. For many who play the game, it is about the relationships on and off the field. It is where they come to be with friends, to find sanctuary from the challenges of life.”

“We are encouraged by players who take their excitement for the game into their lives and positively influence those around them. We want to help spread hope to those who find their lives hopeless. You are enough, you are not alone and you are loved.

About a year ago, Ringor got together with one of club director and head coach Jose Tunon of GA Power 2022/2023 to produce a short video released in February, 2020 called More Than a Game where the players and coaches “open up about the personal impacts of their team and the game of softball” including dealing with suicide as is emotionally and painfully demonstrated in one player’s recounting of the loss of a friend.

“Stats have meaning. We all know it,” wrote the company in a release around the video. “Although stats hold their importance in the books, it takes a special coach and a dedicated group of players to understand that it’s not just numbers on a page that make a team.”

“A team is more than the outcome of a series of games, and a player is more than her numbers on the stat sheet. Ringor knows the support and family that softball brings to many girls, and our teams are no exception. Jose at GA Power Fastpitch expands on this concept in the spotlight of his team, which has found sanctuary within their softball family, proving that it truly is more than just a game.”

Here’s the video: