Kids taste big time sports

8 March 2013

Kids taste big time sports

Big names in New Zealand sports will rub shoulders with kids who dream to ‘make it’ at the annual Pelorus Trust Stadium Sports Festival next Tuesday 12 March.

Current Silver Fern Te Huinga Reo Selby-Rickit is taking time out from training to help deliver netball to the 600 primary school children sampling 18 different sports at the Westpac Stadium.

She will be joined by former Black Cap wicketkeeper Chris Nevin, former Silver Fern Sandra Edge, current Wellington Firebirds Illi Tugaga and Barry Rhodes among other sporting legends ‘playing’ with the children for the day.

“An extremely strong level of coaches, former internationals, professional coaches and experience will be on hand to give the kids a taste of different sports,” says organiser David Fa’atafa, Sport Wellington. “It’s exciting these sporting legends are coming together to expose their codes at a grass-roots level.”

The tenth annual Pelorus Trust Stadium Sports Festival is also a celebration that 6000 children from across the Wellington Region will have experienced a huge number of sporting codes at the same sports ground, during one day. This year a record 60 schools applied to attend the regional event, of which only 20 spots were available.

Organised by Sport Wellington, the Pelorus Trust Stadium Sports Festival aims to give school children opportunity to have a pitch at sports they might not generally experience. It is hoped they will find a sport they enjoy and want to take up, or develop a taste for a variety of sports rather than specialising in one particular code early in life.

The excitement of the historic first Australian Football League (AFL) competition outside of Australia will add to the energy of the children sampling the sports at ‘stations’ around the Westpac Stadium. Budding AFL juniors can learn the steps in the very stadium where the St Kilda Saints will take on the Sydney Swans on Anzac Day.
New Zealand Hawkes member Kade Riddell (a Year 12 student at Hutt Valley High School) will be on hand to help deliver the AFL taster.

A new sport showcased this year is volleyball, which is increasing in popularity among children according to a recent Sport NZ survey. Volleyball will add to the diversity of other traditional codes of netball, rugby, football, cricket and hockey as well as the more unfamiliar sports such as futsal and ultimate frisbee. The traditional Maori game of Horo Hopu, as well as gymsports and karate will also be available for the children to try.

Fa’atafa says the day is a festival of ‘having a go’ at new sports, of being active and will include some friendly competition. The regional event has become so popular it has spawned satellite sports festivals in Lower Hutt, Porirua and Wellington City, which will give more local schools greater opportunity to take part.

Of the 18 codes to be showcased next Tuesday, 15 codes have received funding via KiwiSport through Sport Wellington to increase the number of school-aged children participating in organised sport.

Wellington Regional Stadium Trust provides the hallowed grounds of Westpac Stadium for the day to ‘give back’ to the regional community. Sport Wellington also acknowledges the help of Pelorus Trust for its huge support of the festival and PAK’nSAV Kilbirnie for feeding the army of volunteers helping.

The Pelorus Trust Sports Festival begins at 10am and finishes at 2pm, with a lunch break between 12.10 and 12.40pm.

Full list of schools attending:
Lower Hutt
Arakura School
St Michael’s School
Wainuiomata Primary School
Wellesley School
Wilford Primary School

Porirua
Holy Family School
Paremata School
Russell School
Titahi Bay North School
Windley School

Wellington
Bellevue School
Te Aro School
St Marks Church School
St Francis Xavier School
Kahurangi School
Mt Cook School
Ngaio School
Redwood School
St Brigid's School

Wairarapa
Featherston School

Sports people attending
• Te Huinga Reo Selby Ricket - current Silver Fern and Central Pulse
• Chris Nevin - former Black Cap wicketkeeper, batsman
• Sandra Edge - former Silver Fern
• Illi Tugaga and Barry Rhodes - current Wellington Firebirds Cricketers
• Dave Loveridge - former All Black
• Kade Riddell - New Zealand Hawks team member. He has also represented NZ for the Under 18s and he is in Year 12 at Hutt Valley High School.
• Te Rongopai Clay - Wellington Rep and NZ U19 Champ
• Matt Wenn - former NZ Men Volleyball international
• Chris Gower - Sensei, 5th Dan
• And more!!!

For more information visit www.sportwellington.org.nz.

ENDS

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