<\/p>\n\n\n\n
. <\/p>\n\n\n\n . Today in\u00a0Time\u00a0of\u00a0Our\u00a0Lives, we had the pleasure of speaking with Ian Jones, member of the Australian Professional Golfers Association and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":1504,"parent":0,"menu_order":63,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"1","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"state":[],"class_list":["post-1503","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.downsyndrome.org.au\/qld\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1503","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.downsyndrome.org.au\/qld\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.downsyndrome.org.au\/qld\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.downsyndrome.org.au\/qld\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.downsyndrome.org.au\/qld\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1503"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.downsyndrome.org.au\/qld\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1503\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1505,"href":"https:\/\/www.downsyndrome.org.au\/qld\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1503\/revisions\/1505"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.downsyndrome.org.au\/qld\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1504"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.downsyndrome.org.au\/qld\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1503"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"state","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.downsyndrome.org.au\/qld\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/state?post=1503"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Today in\u00a0Time\u00a0of\u00a0Our\u00a0Lives, we had the pleasure of speaking with Ian Jones, member of the Australian Professional Golfers Association and an active member of the Down Syndrome Queensland Community. With an accredited certificate in All Abilities Coaching and a coach for the Special Needs Olympics, Ian delivers golfing programs for PGA Australia, Gold Australia, Special Olympics and his own program, Grotto Golf.
In the near future, Ian hopes to be offering a series of classes as part of the Young Athletes Program, which enables children and families living with Down syndrome to get involved with learning both golf and life skills.
Ian said that the positive impacts that result from helping people learn and participate in golf is what inspires him to get up every morning. Ian prides himself on \u201cencouraging everyone to give golf a go, no matter what their challenge may be\u201d. As both a coach and facilitator, Ian is constantly challenging himself to improve, innovate and develop, incorporating inclusivity and diversity into his classes. In addition to his existing Grotto Golf classes, Ian has recently created a new vision impairment program, extending his reach into the community to ensure every individual has the chance to involve themselves in this wonderful sport.
When asked about his goals for the remainder of 2022, Ian says, \u201cto continue to create, deliver and grow my classes and make sure everyone who wants to play golf can have a go\u201d. Ian is a strong advocate for the immense benefits of golf, referencing a paper published by Oxford University that notes \u201cgolf\u00a0may improve physical and cognitive function, leading to attenuated risks for poor health outcomes, maintaining independence and improved quality of life\u201d.
We were lucky enough to have Ian share his top 10 tips for someone with Down syndrome thinking about getting involved in Grotto Golf:
\ud83d\udc49 Have lots of fun
\ud83d\udc49 Meet new friends
\ud83d\udc49 Spend quality\u00a0time\u00a0with others
\ud83d\udc49 Anyone can participate
\ud83d\udc49 Learn self-improvement skills
\ud83d\udc49 Learn etiquette and values
\ud83d\udc49 Become healthy and active
\ud83d\udc49 Learn to control emotions
\ud83d\udc49 Travel and play
\ud83d\udc49 Meet Coach Jonesy!
\u00a0
We thank Ian for his\u00a0time\u00a0today and strongly encourage everyone out there to get involved. For those interested in learning more about\/contacting Grotto Golf please go to\u00a0grottogolf.com.au<\/a>\u00a0or\u00a0ian@grottogolf.com.au<\/a>.<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/h2>\n\n\n\n