Local youngster shoots for kindness to block out bullying

ALEX Scott is not your ordinary 12-year-old.

This local student is using his past experiences to create a movement to tackle an ongoing issue affecting young people throughout the community.

Alex is the founder of “Shoot for Kindness, block out Bullying,” an awareness campaign encouraging everyone to make better choices and to choose to be kind.

“I want to tackle bullying from a different perspective, by using sporting heroes to speak out against bullying and encourage people to be upstanders, not bystanders,” Alex said.

Alex is a passionate basketball player, and it was his mentor and basketball coach, George Blagojevic – a Geelong United NBL 1 player – who was one of the first to notice Alex was struggling.

“George believed in me when I didn’t believe in myself and encouraged me to speak out about bullying.”Alex said.

“George told me that most kids who bully other kids have something going on in their life that is making it hard to make good choices, but it is not an excuse to bully others.”

After talking about his journey, Alex discovered many other people had similar stories about being the victim of bullying and started thinking of ways he could make a change to help people, developing the “shoot for kindness, block out bullying” movement.

Earlier this year, Alex met Senior Constable Dee Kuchenmeister from the Community Engagement Unit at the Geelong Police Station.

Alex shared his story and talked about the project.

“I met Alex and his parents at a community event and Alex had his project plan/folder in his backpack, so across the bonnet of the police car Alex pitched me his concept of creating an anti-bullying movement, complete with an awareness video featuring sporting heroes which could be played at local basketball games to create awareness,” Senior Constable Kuchenmeister said.

“Given the proactive work that I do within schools, I was instantly captivated by Alex’s story. Many of the incidents I deal with stem from bullying type behaviour which could have been avoided if everyone treated each other with a little more kindness.”

In June, with the support of the Geelong United Basketball Club and his network of supporters, Alex launched his first video at an NBL1 match to a large crowd, financing the project by collecting cans and bottles.

“Every bottle and can that I recycle represents one person I am going to prevent from being bullied,” he said.

With the generosity of friends, family and local businesses so far, the youngster has recycled 20,100 bottles/cans, raising a staggering $20,100 to go towards his project.

“I love that Alex is not a victim of bullying he is a survivor and a thriver and is using his past trauma to help others. I can’t wait to see how far this movement travels; Alex will change the world one recycled bottle at a time,” Senior Constable Kuchenmeister said.

According to “Bullying No Way”, one in four year 4-9 Australian students reported being bullied every few weeks.

Tips for parents to combat bullying:

Educate your children about bullying

Talk openly and frequently to your children

Help your child be a positive role model

Help build your child’s self confidence

Be a role model

Be part of their online experiences, and

Encourage them to seek help when situations become too big for them to handle.

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