Student Sport by Ian Ridgway

Student Sport by Ian Ridgway, Sports Development Director

Mental Toughness Journal

A good sports program caters for the needs of all those who fall under its care, regardless of their sporting ambitions or purpose behind being physically active. The way we present sport and physical recreation to our rangatahi will determine their future involvement and how they see and understand the benefits of a healthy and active lifestyle.

Term two has been a time of new initiatives and new beginnings. We have collaborated with local Sport Psychologist, Zane Winslade and introduced his Mental Toughness Journal to our 1st XI Boys & Girls Football and Hockey teams for their 2022 season. The Journal has been introduced as a tool to learn how to recognise and cope with everyday life in what has been an ever changing academic and sporting landscape over the last couple of years. We will look to expand the audience of this fantastic journal as we continue to make our way through the year.

Students with their Mental Toughness Journal

Growing Coaches

There are those amongst us whose calling in life is to help others. We have a number of students who are already walking that path and passing their knowledge and love of sport to their peers and tamariki within the local community. To help our student-coaches develop, and with the help of Sport Bay of Plenty Coach Force and in particular Trudi Kemp, we launched a Sport New Zealand initiative called ‘Growing Coaches’. This program has encouraged our student-coaches to examine and think about their Why, How & What; Why do I coach sport? How do I want to coach? What kind of coach am I? The students have excelled in developing their own coaching philosophies which then shape the way they deliver their lessons. This is an ongoing program as we aim to mentor and support our student coaches throughout the entire academic year and through the differing sporting seasons.

Ko te piko o te mahuri, tera te tupu o te rakau. The way the sapling is shaped determines how the tree grows.

Student Sport

Not So Sports Club

It is being increasingly reported that young women are becoming disengaged from sport and physical activity. There are many reasons for this but recognising and offering something for those girls was something a special lady called Kim Lazor felt extremely passionate about. Kim lives in Christchurch and formed the Forward Foundation which then launched the very successful Not So Sports Club. A club for high school girls who do not feel that competitive sport is their ideal platform for being active and living a healthy lifestyle, but like being challenged, trying new things and having fun. Thanks to Kim and the club’s Bay of Plenty coordinator, Kathy Miller, this club is now up and running at Ōtūmoetai College and the girls involved are enjoying their trips out every Wednesday afterschool. Kim travelled up to Ōtūmoetai College for the Club’s first ever outing during Term Two and joined the girls for a round of crazy golf. This club will continue throughout the year and will enable the girls involved to experience new activities, forge new friendships and create positive memories around being physically active.

The Not So Sports Club girls including Kim Lazor (grey jumper) and Kathy Miller (far right, front row)

Regardless of the initiative, club, or opportunity taken during Term Two, all those students involved have chosen to try something new, step out of their comfort zone and risked failure along the way while doing so. The sports department will continue to provide new challenges and exciting opportunities for all our students during Term Three and beyond whilst encouraging and supporting those involved to excel in their own way.