ASU Women’s Basketball: Annual events help Sun Devils promote awareness of heart disease

 (Photo: Misha Jones/WCSN) 

While the Dec. 8 match-up between Arizona State and Idaho State may have seemed like another ordinary non-conference game, it was ASU’s fifth annual Keep the Beat and Taste of Tempe event, made to advocate for more awareness on heart health and the importance of living an active lifestyle. 

The event featured organizations such as American Heart Association, EOS Fitness, the Sun Devil Sports Performance Center and several restaurants around the greater Tempe area. 

AHA provided blood pressure tests, pamphlets with information about heart disease and taught people about Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR). The restaurants provided heart healthy options. 

Arizona State Head Coach Charli Turner Thorne and her team advocate for more awareness because the disease affected people in the program in the past. 

“I hope that people learned a lot, about the local food restaurants and professionals who are here, and that they learned a little bit more about their hearts,” marketing graduate assistant Schyler Hawkins said. “I hope some of them walk away and want to get a yearly check, it provokes thought, conversation and just personal awareness of being heart health.” 

According to the American Heart Association, heart disease is the number one leading cause of death in the United States, ahead of cancer, car accidents and old age. Despite being the leading cause of death, it often flies under the radar. Heart disease symptoms will go unrecognized until it is already too late. Some symptoms can include sleep apnea, high blood pressure and enlarged arteries that are unable to circulate blood back to the heart. 

The event has been a fixture in the ASU community since 2015. The basketball team developed the campaign #oneheartbeat to advocate for team unity, and use their platform to spread awareness. 

“What I love about our team is that they just take it in stride,” Hawkins said. “Anything that we do like, they are just so open about it and they always ask me. It is good that they are supportive. It is a mutually supportive thing.” 

The Sun Devil Sport Performance Center understands the value of heart health, especially for their athletes. A team of four different nutritionists work round the clock for all Sun Devil Athletics to help all student-athletes understand the complexities of their own individual diets and health needs off the field.

“Heart health nutrition is very similar to sports nutrition,” Director of Sports Nutrition Amber Yudell said. “The biggest difference might just be an athlete’s timing, so when they are eating to perform and getting good recovery pretty soon after.” 

Keep the Beat emphasizes holistic wellness, in that in order to stay ahead of the silent killer, there is not one simple solution. It takes exercise, healthy eating and going to the doctor for routine checkups. 

However, the need for more focus on heart health is often not on people’s minds. According to the Heart Association, 99 percent of Americans need to improve their heart health, but 72 percent don’t consider themselves at risk of heart disease. 

37-year-old Brian Newton, a manager of EOS Fitness and former professional basketball player, was once one of the 72 percent. He was diagnosed with a weak heart, and was placed on medication for it. 

Newton stopped taking his medication after a short time and suffered an episode where he almost lost his life. Now, with an 18-month-old son, his perspective on his condition has changed. 

“Before, I was just kind of living for me, all the dreams I had to fulfill, everything I do is for him,” Newton said. “I gotta be around to impact him.”

Newton’s condition was similar to former Loyola Marymount basketball player Hank Gathers, who unexpectedly suffered a heart attack and died during a college basketball game in 1990. Now, Newton uses his own story to help spread awareness at events like Keep the Beat. 

“I think people don’t know about it,” Newton said. “When it affects you first hand, or it affects someone around you that you love, then you want to do something about it, but we gotta get past that stage. We want to be proactive, we don’t want to just wait until after something happens.”

It is a disease that flies under the radar, both inside the body and in casual conversations. But, it is something the Arizona State women’s basketball team is spreading awareness for, and it is time for others to follow suit. 

 

 

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