Welcoming Clubs

We are a sports inclusion movement providing valuable tools and resources for your club.

Community clubs are the backbone of sports in Australia. Every athlete that has been successful at the highest level started at a club and was supported by volunteers.

Welcome, inclusion and belonging don't happen in the offices of governing bodies. Instead, it happens at the face of community sport.

It is in the hands of our under-resourced and overworked volunteers, who give their unwavering time, passion and commitment to the sport and communities they love.

Welcoming Clubs supports you in doing the work at the place where the magic happens.

All Welcoming Clubs programs, activities and resources are developed through direct consultation with the community, with people from diverse backgrounds and with community sports volunteers.

Become a Welcoming Club

Welcoming Clubs is an active network of community clubs that are supported to embrace diversity and build spaces that create a sense of belonging for their members.

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WHO we are and what we do

Embracing the Power of Sport for All

Welcoming Clubs started in Brisbane in 2016 as a program to support youth from refugee backgrounds to connect with their local communities through sports participation. This hands-on, grassroots program was wonderfully rewarding but unsustainable.

The program evolved in response to the community’s needs, and the focus shifted to providing more support for community sports clubs wishing to do the work themselves but feeling ill-equipped.

Informed by the experiences of young people and their families, the Welcoming Clubs Standard evolved to provide a framework for clubs, codes and organisations to plan and take action for a considered welcome and genuine inclusion.

WHAT WE DO

Standard and Framework

The Welcoming Clubs Standard is a framework to guide your efforts for greater and more authentic cultural inclusion

Training & Education

Supporting clubs, codes, councils & organisations to ensure their environments are safe, welcoming & inclusive.

Community Projects

Community-led projects from embedded organisations who know their communities best.

Planning for Diversity & Inclusion

Brisbane based clubs can access support to create an individualise Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Action Plan.

Duration	2 hours
Participants	Up to 10
Most suitable for	Sporting clubs, codes and organisations delivering sport outside of the traditional system (informally)
Content	Sport has enormous power for building strong, cohesive and connected communities, improving well-being, health and happiness. It also has the power to heal. Developed by leading trauma expert Dr Bruce Perry, founder of The Neurosequential Network. This workshop will introduce you to the Neurosequential Model, a developmentally sensitive, neurobiology-informed approach known as ‘trauma-informed’.

Duration	90 minutes
Participants	Up to 100
Suitable for	Sporting clubs, community groups, councils, and governing bodies.
Content	Inclusion Volcano Designing your club experience The Upstander Framework Values-based messaging Reporting tools Communication Club toolkit

Duration	2 hours
Participants	Up to 25
Suitable for	Sport and recreation clubs, codes, councils and organisations that deliver events, activities and programs for the community.
Content	Inclusion Volcano Designing your club experience Values-based messaging Communications Club Toolkit