Meeting rugby league great Brad 'Freddy' Fittler at the Lismore PCYC this morning was the highlight for over 50 young people at the newly re-started Fit For Life program.

Youth case manager Senior Constable Clare Beek said the NSW Blues State of origin coach was one of the PCYC’s ambassador and they were lucky he could drop by for the pre-school activities.

The Fit For Life program has been on hold for a few months due to Covid restrictions, but today, the weekly morning program designed to get disengaged kids back at school, kicked off again.

Snr Cons Beek said the program runs every Tuesday, from 7-8am for young people aged 10 to 17 who are at risk of making poor choices, and anti-social behaviour.

Activities include basketball, boxing and general fitness workouts - and the young people get breakfast afterwards before they go to school.

“Through physical fitness, nutrition and social engagement, Fit For Life aims to improve overall wellbeing as well as prevent and divert youth from offending behaviours and school truancy,” she said.

“We have a great boxing coach and we get involved in the boxing too.

“It helps to break down the barriers, and build good relationships between the police and young people when they see us join in with them in police uniform.”

Brad Fittler, the NSW Blues State of Origin coach, and the former captain of Australia and New South Wales.

Snr Cons Beek said if parents or caregivers were interested in having a young person join the program, they should call the PCYC or drop in to fill out the necessary paperwork beforehand.

“We need to sign participants up as PCYC members first,” she said. “So it’s important that they come in and let us know they are interested before Tuesday mornings.

“We encourage caregivers to drop off the young people at the PCYC by 7am then if they are able to, to pick them up and take them to school afterwards.

“We do have limited transport available to take the children to school, but if parents can do it, it is a preferred option – especially if we have lots of participants.

“We rely on volunteers helping us out, so it is crucial that people come and talk to us about their needs beforehand."

If you are interested in the program, call Lismore PCYC on 02 6621 6276.