Alex Lawless is Community champion of Leyton Orient Trust
The Leyton Orient Trust chose Alex Lawless as its “Player in the Community” 2017/18. The charitable part of the English club honoured the commitment of the midfielder to a award-winning project addressing mental health issues.
The role of Alex Lawless was it to support the mental health project Coping Through Football. The initiative won different prizes like the UEFA Grassroots Award and the London Football Award. It is a transformational project that demonstrates how two sporting charities – London Playing Fields Foundation and Leyton Orient Trust – can work with the National Health Service to engage with and improve the well-being of adults and young people experiencing mental health issues. Football is the nucleus of the approach. Alex Lawless supported the project by assisting to training session, participating in Christmas lunch and handing out the medals at the annual Mental Health day tournament last October.
“It’s a wonderful project and seeing how the players enjoy themselves and are using football to get their lives back on track is truly heartening. I’m very pleased to be able to visit and chat to the participants and am honoured to be called an ambassador,” stated Alex.
Systematic approach for player involvement
Every player in the Orient’s squad had paid at least one community visit throughout the season and there were other ambassadorial roles. Alex Lawless’ commitment and enthusiasm was second to none and therefore he got the award from the Leyton Orient Trust as their Player in the Community. To ensure a good collaboration with the players, the Leyton Orient Trust and the main entity follow a systematic approach. Having the player’s ‘out in the community’ is an important and integral part of the work of the Club and Trust, also to enhance their overall reputations amongst peers and within the local community itself. To avoid any problems, the players are asked for their interests and preferences by using a form of the Professional Footballer Association. In this way players can highlight anything they might not be comfortable doing or by contrast, something they associate with e.g. an old school visit or even something they may be working towards e.g. coaching badges. In addition to that, the club has its one employee concentrating on the topic of player involvement in the social projects. Club Community Liaison Officer Howard Gould, for example, ensures the practical implementation of the results of the player questionnaire.
“I won’t send a player to somewhere he’s not comfortable: for example, a hospital or hospice,” said Howard Gould, Club Community Liaison Officer. “But on the other hand, if one is working towards his coaching badges, it makes sense to attend a school and run a short session, aiding in the skills he’ll need at assessment time.”
