Collingwood and the Resilience Project team up to make a splash at Shepparton East Primary

By Zac Standish

Apr 12, 2022

Happy days: Collingwood’s Jordyn Allen alongside Shepparton East Primary students Lexi Boswell, Alex Ferguson and Allegra Dow. Photo by Megan Fisher

On the first Monday of school holidays, primary school kids can often be found on the PlayStation, enjoying the freedom with friends or out of town with family on vacation.

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But for the students at Shepparton East Primary, a special presentation awaited them back on school grounds, as Collingwood AFLW star Jordyn Allen and renowned mind-coach Hugh van Cuylenburg made the trip from Melbourne to talk about the Resilience Project.

Van Cuylenburg, who has worked with countless professional sporting teams across his storied career, founded the Resilience Project as a way to deliver emotionally engaging programs to schools, sports clubs and businesses, providing practical, evidence-based mental health strategies to build resilience and happiness.

Engaged with the crowd: Hugh van Cuylenburg interacts with the Shepparton East Primary students. Photo by Megan Fisher

Having reached over one million Australians since its inception, the Resilience Project recently teamed up with Coles to deliver presentations to primary schools across Victoria, with Shepparton East one of the lucky few to be selected.

Van Cuylenburg said it was a thrill to be able to take his teachings into regional Victoria.

“I just can’t believe how keen the kids are to be here on their day off, and not only that, but they are all over everything we speak about, so it is great to see that our program works and is having an impact on these kids,” van Cuylenburg said.

“Our major goal is to reach as many people as possible and Coles have helped us make that possible for 20 primary schools, so I feel so proud that we are working with them.

“To give the children here the experience of meeting a Collingwood player like Jordyn and hearing her story I am very passionate about that. I grew up in Melbourne, so I don’t know what it’s like in regional Australia, but I do know the statistics suggest mental health isn’t as good in remote areas.

“So, getting out here to do this kind of stuff is really important.”

Centred on the idea of gratitude, empathy and mindfulness (GEM), he said the earlier children were exposed to these principles the better.

Keen to learn: The Shepparton East Primary kids had plenty of questions for Hugh van Cuylenburg and Jordyn Allen. Photo by Megan Fisher

“This is the stuff they (the kids) will need in their lives,” he said.

“It may not be today, it may not be tomorrow, but at some point, they will be challenged by something, and this will help them through those challenging times.

One of many athletes that practice the principles laid down by van Cuylenburg and the Resilience Project program, Allen detailed to the children some of the injury hardships she had overcome during her AFLW career.

Growing up in the regional town of Rye, she said it was vitally important to get out to areas like Shepparton East and help deliver these powerful messages.

“It is super important that these kids are exposed to the gratitude, empathy and mindfulness (GEM) principle so early because if they can really get on top of it, they will be set up for life,” Allen said.

“I understand what it’s like coming from a small little school and how vital it is to get these people out delivering these programs, it was just huge for Hugh to come out and Collingwood to make the effort as well because it’s things like these kids will remember forever.”