Jennings Hester joined Alabama’s football team as a linebacker in coach Nick Saban’s first recruiting class.
Flashback: A chronic hamstring injury kept him on the sidelines and he never played a game.
What happened next: Without the structure of football, Hester lost his community and his long-time battle with depression spun out of control, he explains.
- “I’m the stereotypical story of a man struggling in the U.S. — started dealing with symptoms at a young age and didn’t know I was dealing with something treatable,” he says.
What’s new: In Colorado, Hester found solace in fly fishing and fly tying and started a nonprofit here in 2019 called Fishing the Good Fight to serve men facing mental health challenges.
- The organization hosts fishing retreats and men’s groups that mix in counseling sessions and create community for those in need.
Meet him: We asked Hester, a sales director for a sports company, for insights into his habits — and fishing:
📱 Device of choice: iPhone 13Pro
👇 First tap: Email. “Usually I wake up with a stupid number,” he says.
💻 Reading list: The blog, “Man Talks”
🎵On rotation: Country singer Charles Wesley Godwin, Shane Smith, Tyler Childers, Zack Bryan
🚴 Favorite app: MTB Project, a mountain biking trail guide
🎣 Favorite place to fish: “I love fishing in Wyoming on the Bighorn River.”
🐟 Biggest catch: 25-inch rainbow trout on the aforementioned river
Credit: Source link
