NFL
By: Brock Vierra
On January 8th, 2023 at approximately 9 am Hawaii time, ONE Championship Atomweight Champion Angela Lee announced that her sister, Victoria Lee had passed away on December 26th, 2022. The shocking announcement has left both the Hawaii and MMA community stunned as Victoria who is the younger sister of MMA champions Christian and Angela Lee was only 18 years old at the time of her passing. Victoria, a burgeoning star in her own right was well on her way to championship gold with a record of 3-0 with 3 stoppages. I am deeply disturbed by her passing, perhaps because of her young age but also because the ever-lingering question of what can we do better as a sports community keeps going unanswered.
Victoria Lee’s cause of death remains unknown and I will not speculate on it but there was a jarring statement made by Victoria’s sister Angela on her Instagram page. Angela Lee writes “Please check on your loved ones. Keep checking on them. Give them hugs and tell them how much they mean to you. You just never know.” Words of this gravity circle back to a problem we in society have when it comes to how we treat our fellow person. What are we doing to check on your brothers and sisters?
We talk about giving people their flowers while they’re still here to appreciate them but what about just checking in on them. Now I’m talking from a sports side of things. We talk about various player associations working towards providing athletes and former professionals with pensions and assistance but what are they doing for mental health? What are they doing to make sure everything is all good with players mentally and spiritually instead of just the physical.
There are so many physical tests and precautions for our athletes to ensure their safety but why don’t we focus on the whole person as well. We can perform as many physicals, water, and heart tests as we like but why don’t we have periodical mental evaluations? Why don’t we have a dedicated group of individuals whose only job is to check in with current and former athletes? Why do we only bring in counselors when tragedy strikes?
I guess what I’m asking is what is it gonna take for our athletic organizations and players associations to just check in with the people whose well-being are allegedly in their best interest? What if the NFLPA checked in on Junior Seau? On Rashaan Salaam? On Vincent Jackson? On Mike Webster? Dave Duerson? What about other athletes? What about Gary Speed? Robert Enke? Ekaterina Alexandrovskaya? Could their lives be different if someone reached out?
What Angela Lee is saying shouldn’t just be something shared between siblings. With the pressure of being an athlete combined with the media attention and obligations associated with the profession, people can crack. Enough is enough and we need to do something about it. Let’s give our athletes their flowers and let them know how much we care while they’re still here to hear it.
I call for all sporting organizations and players associations to institute mental evaluations and mandatory counseling sessions for participating athletes along with a service whose goal is to check in with former players/ competitors. It doesn’t take much to check in on others but it does go a long way. To the Lees, I express my condolences. I can not imagine what they must be going through. We need to do better. We should be better.
She will be deeply missed by the MMA and Hawaii community. Victoria Lee. Daughter. Granddaughter. Sister. Aunty. Fighter. Rest in paradise.
