Sport Tasman’s board have updated its Top of the South strategy to ensure more and better opportunities for the region’s young people to get physically active.

The charitable Trust reviews its strategy every three years, however, the impact of COVID-19, the introduction of the new Healthy Active Learning programme in primary schools and a desire to explore the role of Play to develop skills and attitudes early in life, have led to a strategy “refresh”.

“It’s important in this ever-changing period, that Sport Tasman resets itself to try and have the biggest impact it can.  In resetting our strategy, trustees have had to consider some of the current community challenges we face together with an eye for the future so we can better position our young people for years ahead,”  says Board Chair Dave Schaper.

The updated strategic framework will see Sport Tasman create more opportunities and improve quality experiences for children (tamariki) and youth (rangatahi) in Te Tau Ihu (the Top of the South) to get active. Sport Tasman is placing a particular focus on engaging with Māori and Pasifika, young women and girls, new New Zealanders and refugees, and regionally isolated youth - groups they have identified locally as missing out on opportunities to get physically active.

To make this happen, Sport Tasman partners with many key organisations, including Sport New Zealand, RĀTĀ Foundation and New Zealand Red Cross. An example of a successful programme is our help with establishing and supporting Youth Voice Kawatiri (Buller region), where a group of youth provides a voice for local rangatahi. While a co-ordinator supports the initiative, all the mahi (work) is being done by the youths themselves, resulting in better engagement and more opportunities for their peers to get active and have a positive long-term impact on their community.

“We are really proud of the type of co-design work going on in Buller with local rangatahi.  Going forward, we aim to have this locally led approach embed across all our work,” says Sport Tasman CEO Nigel Muir.

Other projects that are using co-design with local youth include Kōhine Māia, which supports teenage girls' confidence and wellbeing through physical activity opportunities; and a collaborative project, where Sport Tasman partnered with Badminton New Zealand and Waimea College to develop and support leadership and coaching skills among students.

Written by Sport Tasman
Article added: Wednesday 06 April 2022

Photo Caption: Group of happy kōhine at the end of a wild stand up paddleboarding session in Tahunanui Beach in Summer ‘22.