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Pupils play on hallowed ground
Pupils play on hallowed ground
About 600 excited school
children sampled 18 different sports at the annual Pelorus
Trust Stadium Sports Festival on Tuesday 12 March, at
Westpac Stadium.
From volleyball, netball, rugby,
football, gymsports, golf and cricket to more unfamiliar
sports such as futsal, ultimate frisbee, karate and the
traditional Maori game of horohopu, the children
energetically ‘gave it a go’ under the direction of top
names in New Zealand sports and coaching. They especially
revelled in playing on the ‘hallowed turf’ at Westpac
Stadium – usually a ground fielding top New Zealand sports
teams.
Organised by Sport Wellington, the regional
festival aims to give children a go at many sports they
might not generally experience but might want to play
regularly either through school, KiwiSport programmes or
clubs.
A record 60 schools applied to win one of 20 spots
at the tenth annual festival. Since its first year, the
festival has given 6000 children from the Wellington Region
a chance to try a large number of sporting codes.
Sport
Wellington CEO Phil Gibbons says it was a great day for all
the schools involved. “In particular it was an awesome
opportunity for the kids to be introduced to a huge variety
of new sports. The codes involved did a great job and as a
result we hope to see their participation numbers increase.
“It was a fantastic day for all involved and Sport Wellington would like to thank Wellington Regional Stadium Trust for use of Westpac Stadium and all our sponsors for their on-going support of this event,” says Phil.
Many of the codes delivering at the festival receive KiwiSport funding through Sport Wellington, to increase the number of school-aged children participating in organised sport.
Pelorus Trust CEO Scott Simmiss was impressed with the huge variety of sports participating, outside the traditional codes. “The children were having a lot of fun through the different methods of skills training and delivery. The festival was a great format for children to try new sports,” says Scott.
Many children at the festival were keen to come back next year.
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