Sport Auckland Moving Together Spring 2022

MOVING TOGETHER
MOVING
INSPIRING HEALTHY AND ACTIVE LIFESTYLES
TOGETHER
SPRING 2022
INSPIRING HEALTHY AND ACTIVE LIFESTYLES SPRING 2022
In this issue...
WELCOME
Tēnā koutou katoa.
Welcome to our Spring edition of Moving Together.
Women and Girls
Wai-Walkers
Mana Taiohi
PG 2
PG 4
PG 5
Active Families....................... 6
Mita’s Journey....................... 7
Tū Manawa Active Aotearoa.. 8
In this edition you will see an emphasis on female participation in play,
sport and active recreation. How apt that is as Auckland and Northland
embrace the delivery of the World Rugby’s Women’s World Cup.
Among thousands, I was fortunate enough to attend the opening day of
the tournament at Eden Park. Three games of great rugby, an awesome
atmosphere, and plenty of entertainment throughout the day. The haka
from our Black Ferns was inspiring and what a thrill for them as they
played in front of the largest crowd in New Zealand, for a female event.
At the community level we have pleasure in showcasing some
phenomenal girls initiatives taking place, under the HERA framework.
With a large focus over the next two years in increasing participation and
leadership at all levels of female play, sport and active recreation, these
stories are heartening to read.
Over the past year in tandem with our partners Sport New Zealand
Ihi Aotearoa and Aktive we undertook our first Neighbourhood Play
System (NPS) with Stanhope Road School. The kaupapa of the project
was to understand how various urban system’s impact tamariki’s play
opportunities and support the development of initiatives that contribute
to more play opportunities.
The Stanhope Road Play Festival will be held on Friday 11 November to
launch the project and celebrate a diverse range of play initiatives.
Work continues in helping community clubs with strategy, plans, funding
and their connectivity within the wider community. It is interesting to
see the number of community clubs who are investing time in exploring
“working together” with the intent to provide “community sports hubs” in
response to servicing changing community needs. If your club is in such
a position do not hesitate to connect with any of our Community Sport
Advisors.
Ngā mihi
Mike Elliott
Chief Executive
SPORT AUCKLAND | Level 4, Gate B, Alexandra Park Function Centre, Greenlane West, Epsom • PO Box 26599, Epsom, Auckland 1344​
Ph 09 623 7900 • info@sportauckland.co.nz • www.sportauckland.co.nz

MOVING TOGETHER
INSPIRING HEALTHY AND ACTIVE LIFESTYLES
SPRING 2022
2
Sport our way
HERA – Everyday Goddess aims to
empower girls to be more active for life
by supporting them to enjoy, participate
and become more engaged in physical
activity.
It’s about knowing, as a girl, that what
drives you to be physically active is
unique to you – and HERA celebrates
that.
Our Move Is: Basketball
With support from Tū Manawa Active Aotearoa
funding, Pakuranga Heights School have been
able to offer girls aged 7-11 years a six week
basketball programme. Pakuranga Heights
School were overwhelmed with the number of
girls who registered for the programme, and
discovered a need to offer more physical activity
opportunities to their students.
“I’ve always wanted to do
lots more sports, I enjoy
doing it with my friends”
Auckland Basketball Services provided qualified
coaches for participants and ensured everyone
was active throughout the sessions.
The success of this programme relied heavily
upon staff at Pakuranga Heights School who
committed to giving girls an opportunity to try
a new sport in a fun, friendly setting.
“I’ve always wanted play
basketball. I like being
a team player”
Active
Recreation
Our Move Is: Skateboarding
Girls were offered the opportunity to get their
wheels rolling at three unique skate parks
within Central and East Auckland throughout
the holidays. With support from Tū Manawa
Active Aotearoa funding, Girls Skate NZ were
able to teach the basics of skateboarding to
over 105 tamariki and rangatahi.
The goal of this project was to “break down
barriers to skateboarding such as social
intimidation, gender discrimination and
financial burden.”
“we want to ensure
skateboarding is more
accessible to those
who cannot afford
to participate or are
intimidated to go to
skateparks.”
During the sessions, Girls Skate NZ
experienced a lot of girls who were interested
in learning more about skateboarding but
were anxious to be at a skatepark. Girls Skate
NZ overcame this by initiating conversations
and building relationships with each
participant over the course of the session.
Gathering participant feedback throughout
the session also weighed heavily on Girls
Skate NZ. The coaches constantly asked
for feedback throughout the session. This
approach, aligning to Aktive’s ‘HERA -
Everyday Goddess‘ Framework is a way
to co-design the programme to keep girls
engaged in a fun and safe environment.
If you are interested in learning more about
Girls Skate NZ, visit their website:
www.girlsskatenz.com
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MOVING TOGETHER
INSPIRING HEALTHY AND ACTIVE LIFESTYLES
SPRING 2022
Healthy Active
Cultural Competency
4
Learning
Healthy Active Learning is a joint
government initiative between Sport
NZ and the Ministries of Health and
Education. Their mission is to support
schools and kura to create healthy and
active learning environments and better
connection to their local communities.
Wai Walkers
Girls at Waikōwhai Intermediate are claiming their
turf with the establishment of their own lunchtime
walkers’ group. When they said they liked walking
with their friends but didn’t like getting changed
into exercise gear to do it, the Wai-Walkers group
was formed.
This is one result of the Healthy Active Learning
school’s more inclusive approach to physical
activity, which puts student voice at the centre of
decision making.
It’s a good way for
students to keep fit in a
way that works for them,”
she says.
Waikōwhai realised it could be doing more to
support its female students to be active through
gathering student insights with our Healthy Active
Learning team.
The insight process included all 380 students
completing a Physical Education survey, a girlsonly
focus group, conversations with teachers
and students, a playground audit to see how play
spaces were being used at break times, and the
Healthy Active Learning team observing Health
and Physical Education (HPE) lessons.
Prior to Healthy Active Learning, teachers at
Waikōwhai valued the role of Health and Physical
Education as part of student’s education, but
many say they felt they lacked the confidence
delivering it and saw it primarily about teaching
sport-skills. Now, one teacher says, they liked
“the wellbeing focus and encouragement to be
physically involved no matter the level of skills”.
Healthy Active Learning advisor at Sport
Auckland Greg Burne says teachers and students
who were less confident in HPE were now
enjoying it.
“We have seen a great example of this where a
teacher set up a team challenge where students
worked together to create a bridge using
equipment from the PE shed,” he says.
“The task fully engaged students who wouldn’t
normally find PE enjoyable. Using varied contexts
for learning can create an environment of
inclusiveness in PE – and ultimately a greater
chance of lifelong enjoyment of physical activity”.
Greg says he is particularly proud of the ‘open to
learning’ attitude everyone at Waikōwhai brought
to the table, from the senior leadership team to
the sports lead and teachers.
“They were all willing
to challenge their own
practice and respond
positively to feedback
this attitude will allow
the school to sustain
meaningful, long term
change,”
“We take pride in saying that this is now the
physical activity environment at Waikōwhai and
it’s what makes Healthy Active Learning such a
unique initiative, it’s a whole school approach,” he
says.
Mana Taiohi Training
Mana Taiohi is a set of guiding
principles that acknowledge the
mana young people have, and explore
how we can work with rangatahi to
enhance their mana.
Since launching the Active Recreation
for Rangatahi Plan in 2021, Sport NZ has
supported Regional Sports Trusts (RSTs)
across Aotearoa to engage in Mana Taiohi
training workshops. The workshops cover the
eight principles of Mana Taiohi and how these
can be applied to work with young people in
a physical activity setting. Check out the eight
principles below.
“YOUNG PEOPLE ARE AT
THE CENTRE OF WHAT WE
DO, SO HAVING THIS TIME
TO REFLECT ON HOW WE
ARE ENGAGING WITH
THEM HAS BEEN REALLY
IMPORTANT”
This a journey towards embedding a mana
enhancing youth development approach when
developing physical activity opportunities. As
part of an ongoing partnership with Ara Taiohi,
Sport NZ will be supporting more partners
and organisations to embed the Mana Taiohi
Principles. Learn more about the mahi Ara Taiohi
provide to our communities and how you can get
involved through their website.
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MOVING TOGETHER
INSPIRING HEALTHY AND ACTIVE LIFESTYLES
SPRING 2022
Active families
Active Families Programme – Rising Stars!
6
As an infant and young kid, Kalani battled with
obesity. Kalani didn’t have the confidence
to engage in activities, sport or games at
school. Kalani and his whānau were referred
to our Active Families programme to provide
motivation and support with physical activity and
making healthy eating changes. Kalani and his
mum attended the weekly sessions at the Point
England programme alongside other families
and slowly started to see and feel the changes
in their health because of their consistent
efforts. Alofa, Kalani’s mum said,
“The Active Families
programme has really
helped my son build his
confidence to run, play and
have fun. Today my son is a
slim and fit 13-Year-old.
No weight issues anymore.
He’s come a long way from
being really big.”
The Active Families programme includes
weekly activity and healthy eating sessions in a
community setting, as well as the option for our
team to come and visit whānau at their homes.
“Thank you Active Families
team.... You are awesome
for the kids. My son is
a fine young man today
thanks to a good sporting
attitude. These skills and
experiences have extended
to him being awarded ‘’The
Rising Star’’ award for his
team at the Marist Rugby
Club”
GReen prescription
Green Prescription (also known as
GRx) is a free health and wellbeing
support service, designed as a kickstart
programme to help support people to
get active and live a healthy lifestyle.
Anyone who would like support with
their nutrition can self-refer to the
programme by calling or by asking their
health professional for a referral.
Green Prescription (GRx) Programme
success!
When Mita joined Green Prescription he
described his health as “very overweight from
depression. I over-ate, abused alcohol every
weekend and didn’t care about myself or my
health. I was putting myself in a dark hole but
was blinded and kept eating and gaining more
weight.” Receiving a lot of aroha and support was
crucial in keeping him going once he started at
the gym with his brother. Whilst Mita knew about
exercising from playing a lot of sports during his
schooling days, the biggest challenge for Mita
was cutting out the takeaways and energy drinks.
The more he started to change habits, temptation
decreased and he stopped giving in.
Mita gained encouragement after posting some
of his gym sessions on Tiktok, receiving positive
comments and knowing he was also motivating
others.
“Anyone struggling with
weight and are too shy to
workout in front of people
and are feeling scared,
don’t be.”
We love that despite being busy at work, Mita has
an attitude of “no excuses!” He is focused on his
goals, “to return to my original weight of 100kgs,
to be happy and live to see my sons kids one
day… but I hope not too soon. I don’t want to be a
Koro just yet, haha”.
Like us, we’re sure you’ll be inspired to read
Mita’s story and the message he’s passed on…
“Anyone struggling with weight and are too shy to
workout in front of people and are feeling scared,
don’t be. If you work hard and push through all
the challenges that comes with being overweight
the end results is something to be proud of,
and also smile about. Achieving little goals like
jogging up a hill or doing a walk without stopping,
really makes you awesome. Especially when you
can take your kids to join in plus having fun at the
same time. I’m proud of myself for doing this big
change in my life and my son is really proud of
me as well and knowing fills my heart. So go be
the best version of you and let’s lose weight all
together whanau!!”
Michael McCormack
Health & Wellness - Business Development
Manager
MichaelM@sportauckland.co.nz
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MOVING TOGETHER
INSPIRING HEALTHY AND ACTIVE LIFESTYLES
SPRING 2022
Tu Manawa Active Aotearoa
The Tū Manawa Active Aotearoa Fund is distributed by Sport Auckland on behalf of Sport NZ. We
provide funding for projects or programmes to deliver play, active recreation and sport experiences.
This fund is aimed at tamariki and rangatahi, who are inactive or face major barriers and therefore are
missing out on opportunities. These projects may be new or already operating.
We have funding available to distribute in our Fast Fund and Local Fund. If you are a community group
and would like to apply for funding - visit our website.
$528,792
allocated since 1 July 2022
Vodafone Volunteer of the month
We are stoked to announce that we have
partnered with Vodafone NZ to celebrate
our awesome volunteers across Auckland
Central and Howick communities.
This kaupapa is about recognising and
celebrating volunteers who make a
difference in the community and deserve
to be recognised for their time and talent
given to others.
Any individual can make a nomination.
If you know someone who is making a
positive difference for our communities,
we would like to hear from you.
NOMINATE A
VOLUNTEER
SPORT AUCKLAND | Level 4, Gate B, Alexandra Park Function Centre, Greenlane West, Epsom • PO Box 26599, Epsom, Auckland 1344​
Ph 09 623 7900 • info@sportauckland.co.nz • www.sportauckland.co.nz