By Eurohoops team / info@eurohoops.net
Mike Sweetney, 9th pick in the 2003 NBA draft by the New York Knicks opened up to HoopsHype about his battle with depression and his suicide attempt a few years back.
Sweetney’s life seemed ideal back then, yet his father passed away before he started his training camp with the Knicks. At the fear of being judged for his depression, he attempted to commit suicide.
“I remember the night. We were in Cleveland one night and I just took a bunch of pain pills, hoping it would take me out. But I woke up the next morning thinking, ‘well, it didn’t work.’ That’s how bad it was”
“I didn’t like basketball and I just didn’t like life at the time. I went from being a star at Georgetown and having my father at every game, to losing him and not even playing in the NBA. I knew I wasn’t going to be given a chance as a rookie because my coach told me, ‘Hey, I’m not going to play you.’ I had a lot of things going on that were rough for me to handle. I had dug myself into a really deep depression and, at that point, I was really scared to tell anybody”, he mentions.
Now, he has recovered and he is setting an example with his story by talking to children: “I speak at schools and I mainly work with kids who have battled depression or are in suicide prevention,” Sweetney said. “I’m actually in the process of starting my own foundation […] People don’t realize just how many children commit suicide; this is a really serious problem. I just want to give back to the community and tell kids my story.”