Papuni Boxing ŌTautahi Trust Receives Matariki Award

The New Zealand Amateur Sport Association Inc. is pleased to announce that the 2024 Te Tohu Tiketike o Matariki award has been made to the Papuni Boxing Ōtautahi Trust, a registered charitable trust. The award was announced today by Association Patron, Andy Leslie, ONZM who convened the selection panel.

The award, decided in collaboration with Te Upoko o te Ika, Aotearoa’s first te reo Māori radio station, acknowledges a community sport organisation which has embraced te reo Māori as part of its kaupapa. The award also acknowledges National Volunteer Week (Te Wiki Tūao ā-Motu), with the recipient reliant on volunteers to deliver sport to its local community.

Andy Leslie said that “the amateur sport of boxing has been part of New Zealand communities for over 150 years, providing physical training for young people in a disciplined and controlled environment, governed by strict rules. Learning how to manage strength and energy in a positive way in sport, is an important part of the development of all young people.”

Association Chairman Gordon Noble-Campbell said that “as a non-profit organisation committed to the overall wellbeing and development of young people, the Association recognises the Trust’s focus on Te Whare Tapa Whā, nurturing the physical (taha tinana), mental and emotional (taha hinengaro), social (taha whānau), and spiritual (taha wairua) dimensions of health.”

Adrian Tangaroa Wagner, General Manager of Te Upoko o te Ika said that “community sport is an important way for te reo Māori to become more familiar to a larger number of people, with this year’s award again acknowledging how this can become an integral part of our overall approach to building healthy communities through sport”.

Previous awards have been made to: in 2022, the Otaki Surf Lifesaving Club Inc. (Horowhenua Kapiti), and in 2023, the YMP Hockey Club (Poverty Bay)

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