Community Sport

What’s New

In Edgecumbe post floods, we supported the local community by running holiday events and general support after the floods. Using sport as a positive diversion, we ensured people were occupied in a time of disaster. With around 50 children actively involved, Sport Bay of Plenty, along with the Whakatane District Council lead a project recovery mission focusing on supporting the children and youth of Edgecumbe using sport and different forms of physical activity.

Community Sport consultation for KiwiSport was undertaken in the local community to see where they believe the future of Kiwisport is. This process allowed the previous applicants both successful and unsuccessful to have their say on where they believe Sport NZ should direct the KiwiSport funding. The workshops were well attended and useful insights gathered about the future of KiwiSport. These discussions will turn into outcomes for KiwiSport funding for the future.

Positive Sporting Environment – The ‘Lead the Cheer’ campaign and educational programme was launched. The programme is directed at addressing negative sideline behaviours and how we can continue to make sport better for all involved. Promotional components are available via the website, along with educational resources for workshops, meetings and other touchpoints in the sporting environment.

Highlights

Monique Eades - Lotto Volunteer of the Year

Lotto New Zealand Volunteer of the Year award. It was wonderful to surprise teacher Monique Eades at her school with Lotto New Zealand to announce she is the national Lotto New Zealand Volunteer of the Year, in which she won an all-expenses-paid trip to the Hockey World Championships in Auckland in November and a signed Black Sticks hockey stick.

The Volunteer Breakfasts are an annual highlight around the Bay of Plenty as we love the opportunity to recognise the hard working volunteers in the local sporting communities. The breakfasts are a chance to reward people, listen to their stories as well as listen to guest speakers who touched on the backbone of why volunteers are at the heart of community sport. This was extremely heartfelt by Black Ferns Sevens Captain Sarah Goss and teammate Ruby Tui, who also brought along their Commonwealth and Olympic medals for the volunteers to wear around their necks.

Sport Bay of Plenty developed a thorough Health and Safety workshop informing the risks in sport and recreation around the Person Conducting Business and/or Undertaking (PCBU) for volunteers. This workshop was rolled out around the Bay of Plenty highlighting what volunteers and clubs need do to protect themselves with the legislative changes that have occurred. The practical workshop was well received as organisations took away many learnings including being able to differentiate between what constitutes a PCBU and the risks associated with this and what does not.

Success Stories

New basketball club in Eastern Bay of Plenty

A positive outcome of the Edgecumbe flooding came with the development of an organised basketball community. A keen group of members of the community with an interest in basketball but couldn’t field a team, had nowhere to play and also with no competition. With the community involvement and turning talk into an action, a new club started called the ‘Eastern Eagles’ along with incorporated society status. This will help facilitate the areas around Eastern Bay in the provision of basketball for all young people. Furthermore, this will ensure the continued success of the Eastern Bay of Plenty secondary basketball competition as it now reaches over 350+ secondary schools students. This is now the largest competition in the Eastern Bay of Plenty region for secondary aged students.

Click here to find out more about Community Sport

Kiwisport Funding

A total of $414,893.57 has been distributed in the 2017/2018 year to local sporting clubs, regional sporting organisations and schools throughout the region towards providing high quality sporting experiences for children in the Bay of Plenty. This brings the total of funds distributed to $3,994,717 since the fund commenced in March 2010.