Written by Samantha Wilson
From June 4th to 26th, members of Charles Sturt University Football Club (CSUFC) took on The Push-Up Challenge — a nationwide initiative aimed at raising awareness and funds for mental health. Participants across Australia complete a set number of push-ups over 23 days, representing the 3,249 lives lost to suicide in Australia in 2022. The event serves as both a physical and mental health challenge, encouraging people to learn, connect, and contribute to the cause.
For CSUFC, it was more than just a workout, it was a team-wide effort to support something close to our hearts: youth mental health. We all nominated Headspace Bathurst as our chosen charity, allowing us to kickstart fundraising for our annual Headspace Cup well ahead of schedule. Our annual Headspace Cup is a charity match weekend we host each year with the goal of raising some much needed awareness and funds for a cause very important to us — youth mental health. During the weekend we also play our Sunday league games, wearing Headspace green with the aim of painting Proctor Park green.
To stay motivated, we got creative. Each day, we sent each other videos of our push-ups and introduced a fun twist of ‘Push-Up of the Day.’ Whether it was push-ups on the soccer field, in a literal cave, or with unexpected flair, the most impressive or creative push-up would win and an $5 extra was donated to Headspace Bathurst on their behalf. We also met up in person to smash out reps together, giving each other that extra bit of encouragement (and friendly competition) to keep going.
We initially set a fundraising goal of $2,000, but thanks to the passion and commitment of our players and supporters, we kept smashing our target. So we kept raising the bar. By the end of the challenge, we had raised a massive $7,340 for Headspace Bathurst — all before the Headspace Cup had even kicked off.
Was it hard? Absolutely. Our arms were sore, our form was questionable at times, and some of us probably still hear the word “push-up” in our sleep. But the energy, the banter, and the shared purpose made it one of the most rewarding challenges we’ve taken on as a club.
We’re so proud of what we achieved and we’re even more excited to see how much more we can raise for Headspace in the coming months. Bring on next year’s challenge. We’ll be ready (and so will our triceps).
Charlie blog is a SSAF funded initiative.
