Participants have hailed the impact of the Hull FC Community Foundation’s ‘Empowering Youth’ sessions during the national lockdown.
The presentations which have taken place over Zoom over the course of the last three months, have been led by club legend and Foundation staff member Lee Crooks, giving an insight into several areas aimed at inspiring the younger generation or rugby league players and fans.
Themes included aspirations, communication, goal-setting, and teamwork, as well as presentations focusing on maintaining positive mental health though managing emotions, and challenging negative thinking.
The weekly Monday evening presentations have been part of the Community Foundation’s ongoing ‘Empower’ project, which through a variety of projects, have aimed to keep participants fit and healthy over the challenging lockdown period, with Foundation coaches working hard throughout to continue to engage with people across the city, both young and old.
Year 7 pupil Joshua MacKenzie said: “I really enjoyed the presentations with Hull FC because it made me think about other things to do with my rugby. I am missing my rugby so much, so it was great to speak with other children that are feeling the same as me.
“Since the calls have finished I have really started to think about setting goals to help achieve my dream of being a professional player one day.”
Meanwhile, Year 9 pupil Luca Teal added:”The sessions gave me the confidence to speak up because I’m usually quite shy.
“It was good to meet new people from different schools and rugby teams and get a chance to chat with Lee and Rich about things outside of training that I probably wouldn’t have done if I was just at a normal Rugby session.”
Luca’s mum Luana continued: “Talented youngsters often get much training on the physical aspects of Rugby League, but the ‘Empowering Youth’ presentations allows them to reflect, highlight and upskill in other important areas of their game such as communication and teamwork.
“It was a great experience and confidence-building exercise which can be transferred to other areas of their lives.”
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