Connection Club named state finalist

CLUB Lennox Sports has been named a state finalist in the ClubsNSW Clubs & Community Awards for a program helping young people build wellbeing, confidence and social connections.

The club has been nominated in the Small Club, Big Heart category for its Connection Club program, which encourages young people to spend less time on screens and more time engaged in their community.

The initiative brings together children from across the Ballina Shire through a mix of wellbeing, sporting and educational activities.

Participants take part in baking classes, pizza making, lawn bowls, soccer and rugby skills sessions, along with mindfulness-based activities designed to support emotional wellbeing.

Club Lennox Sports marketing and community engagement manager Jackson Connellan said the program focused on giving young people practical tools to manage their wellbeing.

“It instils them with practices around wellbeing, physical activity and education around cooking,” he said.

“The most important part of the program is the wellbeing factor, and that’s what we pin the whole program around.”

The program introduces participants to a range of new activities and challenges.

It includes breathwork, meditation and cold therapy sessions on the club’s bowling greens, helping participants learn emotional self-regulation skills.

“We teach them these skills so that, in turn, they can go away when they’re older, or when they find themselves in a situation where they’re needing to help themselves, and they can access some skills that are familiar for them and beneficial for regulating their wellbeing,” Connellan said.

Winners of the ClubsNSW Clubs & Community Awards will be announced at a ceremony at ICC Sydney on 11 June.

The Connection Club program is currently paused during winter due to many activities being weather dependent but is expected to return during the spring school holidays.