Active for Life - September 2023

Kia ora koutou,

Taranaki is full of champions. Volunteers, coaches, teams, clubs or high achievers and we are gearing up to celebrate many of them at the 2023 Taranaki Sports Awards in November.

Nominations for these awards are open now and now is the time to help your champion performers, volunteers, coaches, or administrators out by getting together and putting them forward for an award.

Experience shows us that beyond the individual recognition of every nominee, who gets a free ticket to our awards evening and features in the commemorative booklet benefits flow to the sport, activity and organisation they represent.

Everyone gets a boost just by nomination – it just goes to the next level for all our winners. Check out the article for more details and see how easy it is to nominate.

We are also happy to be making it easier for your club or code to handle your back office finances with a new shared services offering. Check out all the details below.

There are also some important developments coming for the Tūparikino Active Community Hub project on the horizon detailed below which are important reading for everyone who is looking forward to seeing this community project progress.

Ngā mihi nui

Michael Carr

CEO Sport Taranaki

Nominating for sports awards a winner for your active community

Nominating someone for the Taranaki Sports Awards can boost your whole club, team or sporting community. Anna...

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Tūparikino Active Community Hub

Construction Decision Coming Soon

New Plymouth District Council (NPDC) will soon be considering a plan to rephase the project so work can get underway in 2023. The proposed plan would see the construction of a hockey turf and community multi-use turf developed in phase 1, with the intention to develop the football turf and begin the Indoor Hub the following financial year.

This would be a positive step for the project as it will see it moving ahead and addressing an area of well-established need for the community with the resources available. It recognises the challenging funding and political environment and the need for the project to be phased to fit the times while the long-term vision for the Hub remains unchanged.

The first phase of this plan depends on the Council agreeing to bring funds forward to resource it when they meet at 9am on 27 September. It is important to note that this funding would be from the money already allocated to the project. It is not a request for new funding.

This plan also requires Taranaki Racing Inc and NPDC to agree to finalise a lease agreement. Positive discussions are underway to this end. Under this plan we will be working closely with all existing users in an ongoing way to minimise any disruption during construction.

Sport Taranaki and Councils has been working closely with equestrian groups across Taranaki (including New Plymouth Pony Club) over the past year to develop a Regional Equestrian Facilities Plan, the Plan is almost complete and provides an exciting direction and some opportunities for the sector to work more collaboratively to provide quality experiences to current and future equestrians; acknowledging that in the future the Racecourse site will no longer be available to NPPC.

The Indoor Hub (Stage Two) will be consulted on as part of the Council’s 10-year plan process, so the community is fully informed and consulted on the developed plans and their cost.

Foundation partners Ngāti Tūparikino, Ngāti Te Whiti, and Sport Taranaki together with NPDC and Sport New Zealand representatives have formed a Project Steering Group to help guide the project. Listening to the community there is still a real need for additional facilities to accommodate the growing participant numbers for both formal and informal sport and active recreation.

Latest survey results and case studies

Vacancy: Healthy Active Learning Advisor

One of our valued team members is relocating andSport Taranaki is looking for a new Healthy Active Learning Advisor to join our team.

The Healthy Active Learning team plays a critical role in the implementation of this joint government initiative between Sport New Zealand and the Ministries of Health and Education.

As the Healthy Active Learning Advisor, you will support school leaders and teachers to better plan and implement the Health and Physical Education curriculum (HPE), identify and develop opportunities for quality play, sport and physical activity experiences for tamariki (in school and in the community), and work alongside our Health Advisor to establish healthy behaviours and environments.

This includes developing and maintaining meaningful relationships with schools, and community health and physical activity providers to ensure a connected and coordinated approach to health and well-being outcomes for our tamariki.

The ideal candidate will have a background in education.

For more information, please contact Chris McLean on 0211167726 or email chris.mclean@sporttaranaki.org.nz

More details on our vacancies page

Applications close at 5pm on Friday, 22 September 2023.

We are now offering financial shared services so that clubs and organisations can tap into our expertise to support their bookkeeping and financial needs.

These services are available at a very reasonable hourly rate for local codes and clubs. No job is too small or too big.

The service covers:

Access to our accounts administrator and Sport Taranaki’s finance manager, a qualified accountant.
The administrator will be based in the Sport Taranaki office but can meet with organisations as required.
General duties:
- Financial Reporting i.e. reconciling transactions, organising payments, month end reporting and financial year end reporting
- Cash Management
- Taxation – GST returns, PAYE returns, FBT returns
- Budgeting and Forecasting
- Payroll

We will conduct a financial health check and review the organisation’s Xero set up to minimise costs. If you are interested, please contact Alayne at alayne.mason@sporttaranaki.org.nz to organise a time to meet and discuss your needs.

The magic of Play: An evening for parents and educators

Learn why play is incredibly important for unlocking children’s potential. Come along to this unmissable event and be inspired by award winning and internationally acclaimed Play Expert Sarah Longworth and Nature Play Education Specialist, Consultant and Parenting Coach - Celia Hogan.

Bring a friend relax with refreshment and nibbles for a night of play! All parents, grandparents, and educators welcome!

DATE: Monday 13th November

TIME: 6.00PM – 8.30PM

LOCATION: Sport Taranaki

Cost: Free

Play to Learn (Primary and ECE Educators)

More and more New Zealand schools are implementing play in their school environments. Why? Sarah Aiono from Longworth Education discusses the research behind play and how play impacts on learning. Understand the developmental stages of your students and how to plan for and enable play - rich environments.

Celia Hogan from Little Kiwis nature play will provide skills knowledge and ideas to support children's play in an outdoor environment. "Playing in nature and outdoor environments can build a positive mindset, courage, resilience and enable cooperation in tamariki.” Celia Hogan.

DATE: Monday 13th November

TIME: 12.00PM – 3.00PM

LOCATION: Sport Taranaki

COST: Free

Guy Honnor

Guy has worked for Sport Taranaki since 2007 in a variety of roles. He leads the “sport” initiative which includes coach development, parent engagement, regional leadership and participation and development opportunities. Guy facilitates the Sport Taranaki Good Sports Steering Group which has representation from 16 Regional Sport Organisations and the Taranaki Secondary Schools Sports Association. This group helps promote Sport NZ Balance is Better messaging and collaborative projects such as the recently released parents video featuring local Balance is Better champions Conrad Smith and Zoe Hobbs.

Guy also facilitates the Sport Taranaki Future Champions Programme for NZ age group representatives – a development programme to support those that are looking to go on and compete for NZ in the senior ranks. Guy chairs the Sport Taranaki Health and Safety Committee using the lessons and skills he has developed as a surf lifeguard for the last 32 years at the East End Surf Club in New Plymouth.

Guy has played sports since childhood and loves being competitive. His current passion is golf, and he is a member at the Westown Golf Club. He recently helped the club win the men’s handicapped pennants inter-club event. Guy has coached numerous sports over the years and encourages people to do the same.

“Community sport is reliant on volunteers to give the participants a quality experience which hopefully will keep people active for life," he says.

guy.honnor@sporttaranaki.org.nz

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