Pacific Sporting Partnership

We have continued our partnerships in Samoa, Fiji, the Cook Islands and Tonga.

The Pacific Sporting Partnership was established in 2017, with the New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MFAT) as a five-year commitment. The focus is to promote and encourage healthy lifestyles for young people in the Pacific through activity and nutrition awareness. We have partnerships with the Netball associations in each of these countries, working closely with them to support the development of Netball with their young people.

Each country is unique in its sport and Netball development, and so we work with the local Netball associations, government ministries, schools and local NGOs to develop local plans. There are a number of components that we provide to support these plans.

We have developed accredited Netball coaching programmes endorsed by the Oceania Netball Federation, umpiring programmes, and a fundamental movement skills and general physical education programme endorsed by the Fiji Ministry of Education, Heritage and Culture. Our experts from Netball New Zealand and the Zones provide training in these programmes to local coach developers and umpire coaches. In 2019, this has included Nicola Jones, Kim Hunt, Pam Clayton, Tammy Mehrtens, Charissa Barnham and Jen Hooper. We also provide Netball equipment to the schools, communities and Netball clubs to support their training and development.

The Pacific Sporting Partnership is not just about Netball. All our programmes have nutrition and general healthy lifestyle components. In addition, we partner with nutrition focused organisations. Through our relationship with Hapai Te Hauora we have been able to use their Fizz Free Whānau campaign in the Cook Islands (Fizz Free Anau) and Samoa (Fizz Free Fanau), and working with the Pacific Island Food Revolution (supported by the Australian Pacific Training Coalition) we have provided healthy cooking lessons to Netball coaches in Samoa and Fiji.

Moving beyond our core focus of activity and health, we have recognised that through Netball, we can support the leadership and empowerment of young women in the Pacific Islands. In 2019, with support from the Netball Northern Zone Netball Leaders programme and the NNZ Youth Engagement and Retention Strategy, we are developing a youth sport leadership programme in Fiji, led by Netball Fiji Development Officer Raijeli Rabitu.

In addition to schools and Netball associations, we believe that developing a strong network of partners will help support sustainable outcomes and enable us to utilise the strengths of others. Some of our key partners in 2019 have been the World Health Organisation, Hapai Te Hauora and the Pacific Island Food Revolution.

We are privileged to have access to some fantastic ambassadors, legends of our game, who have supported the programme through 2019 – Jodi Brown, Irene van Dyk, Waimarama Taumaunu, Pelesa Semu and Linda Vagana.

Our programme slogan ‘Netball for Life’ and programme name ‘netGo’ embodies our focus of creating a life love of Netball and promoting healthy lifestyles.

IN NUMBERS

There were 887 teachers and volunteers in Fiji, Tonga and Samoa accredited as Foundation Coaches. There were also:

31 Coach Developers in Fiji, Cook Islands, Samoa and Tonga trained to deliver the Foundation Coach course 179 teachers and student teachers in Fiji and Samoa trained to deliver a Fundamental Movement and Ball Skills programme to Year 1-4 school students (as part of inclassroom Physical Education) 441 kits of Netball equipment given to schools and clubs in Fiji, Cook Islands, Samoa and Tonga 102 umpires trained in Fiji and Samoa 2 Netball courts refurbished in the Cook Islands.

In 2020, the programme will focus on:

1. Building a sustainable coach developer and umpire coach network for long-term Netball development

2. Continuing the work with our nutrition-focused partner organisations

3. Developing a youth sport leadership programme

4. Creating a sustainable approach to the fundamental movement skills teacher professional development work.

Finally, we have had fantastic donations of Netball uniforms, shoes and other gear from around New Zealand. Special thanks to Netball Mainland, Auckland Netball Centre, Taranaki Netball Centre, Wellington Netball Centre, Netball Waitākere, Tysons Netball Club, Dunedin Netball Centre, Long Bay Primary School, Netball Waikato Bay of Plenty Zone, Asics staff and others for these donations. We are always appreciative of these donations – thank you.