By Mitchell Clarke
A Pakenham sporting club has been labelled a “community champion” by the Alcohol and Drug Foundation for their work in addressing mental health during the Covid-19 pandemic.
The foundation’s ‘Good Sports’ team applauded the Pakenham Eels Rugby League Club on their efforts to keep members connected throughout the uncertain period.
With physical training off limits and matches brought to a halt, the club has utilised modern technology to share videos of different drills and ideas to stay fit while in lockdown.
Pakenham Eels club president Jason Buchanan said the mental health of players had been “really important” to the club.
“At the beginning of the 2019 season, we appointed two mental health officers to ensure we stay on top of the mental health of club members and their families,” Mr Buchanan explained.
“We’ve been making sure we keep pushing out regular messages via social media and sharing tips on staying well at this challenging time. Regular contact with our members to show them that we are still here is vital at this time to help with health and wellbeing.”
Like most sporting clubs, the Eels are living in a “state of waiting”, and it’s not yet known when they’ll be able to resume play.
“We’re really just hoping we can get back to some form of face-to-face interaction because I don’t think there’s anything that can really replace that,” Mr Buchanan said.
“The health and training aspect is very important but it’s all about providing a place where people can come and be happy and active and hang out with friends.”
With a “reluctance”, particularly among young men, to talk about and openly discuss issues, Mr Buchanan said working to address mental health issues was never a complete process.
“It’s hard to gauge how they’re coping because we’re not face to face and it’s not something you can easily pick up on. You don’t have coaches or team managers who are with them in person to pick up on these things,” he explained.
“From our perspective, the best thing we can do as a club is to keep talking to people and reminding them that support is available.”
Prior to the pandemic, the club took an active approach on building a healthy and family-friend club culture, with the committee making a decision to not sell alcohol at the club.
“We didn’t want alcohol to be the focus of what is essentially a junior sporting organisation, we didn’t want to create that culture where drinking is the central point,” Mr Buchanan said.
The club has reached the second highest level of the Good Sports program by implementing a range of policies around alcohol, tobacco and safe transport.
Alcohol and Drug Foundation acting Victorian manager Daniel Vautin said the club was a “community champion”.
“Pakenham Eels is a fantastic role-model in community sport and should feel proud of its commitment to building a healthy, strong and connected club, especially at this uncertain time,” Mr Vautin said.
