Stay in Sport!

Updates

 

This section gives you updates of what is happening as part of this project.

Stay in Sport Update – January 2012

 

Happy New Year, I hope everyone’s summer was good and you all enjoyed a thoroughly deserved break.

Over the summer we have put together a barrier reduction programme that will target 60 students who are not participating in sport. Each school will choose 20 students and they will be looked after by a mentor and myself; together we are going to help them get into physical activity. Below are the mentors for the different schools. If you are interested in participating in this programme, or know of someone who may be, please tell your sports coordinator.

Heretaunga College-Martin Asiata
Upper Hutt College-Whetu Campbell
St Patrick’s Silverstream-Logan Ili.

We have a few confirmed dates for the coaching and refereeing courses. Volleyball will be happening late March-April so keep an eye out for those dates. Numbers are limited so please inform your sports coordinator if you want to attend.

Sport	Course	Date	Venue and Cost
Basketball	Level 1 refereeing – 9 hours, 30 students max. Level 1 coaching – 11 hours, 13 students max.	Saturday 10th and 17th March: 9-12.30pm. Saturday 10th and 17th March: 1.30pm-5.30pm.	Heretaunga College
Rugby	“you make the call”, 11 credits, 10 hours. Warrick Bowden. 15ppl Coaching, 3 hours, 15 students,	Consecutive Mondays, March 12th -April 9th: 3.30pm-5pm. Wednesday 29th February. 3.30pm-6.30pm.	St Pats.

On 25th February we are having a Sport Expo where sports clubs in Upper Hutt will be available for registrations and any questions that you may have. This is being linked with the Summer Carnival and is being held at Trentham Memorial Park. This is a great opportunity to speak first hand to the clubs in the area. If you are a club and want to be part of this, please contact Dave Workman.

Keep an eye on this page as I will be putting up the dates of the have-a-go sessions as soon as they are organised.

Make sport your new year’s resolution!!

Stay in Sport Update – November 2011

 

Summer is slowly arriving and hopefully you’re all enjoying the weather. Recently we have been busy working with our secondary schools and our four target sports to get initiatives finalized for term 1 2012.

Tennis, golf, swimming and ultimate Frisbee have all been given the go ahead with their programmes. All four will be running have-a-go sessions in term 1, and each will end with a friendly tournament so you can experience how they are played competitively. I thoroughly recommend attending these sessions so you can experience a sport that you may never have considered before.

I have also held a meeting with the sports coordinators which was a huge success. We have come up with a number of ideas to counter-act some of the barriers to participation. One of these is running coaching and refereeing courses in five different sports to allow more teams to enter competitions and have support structures around them. These will be happening in term 1 and term 2 so make sure you sign up to a course.

Throughout the summer holidays we will carry on finalizing dates and there will be a table of events put on this website so that you all know what is happening. I will be around throughout this time if you have any questions or comments.

I hope everyone’s exams have gone well.
Enjoy the summer holidays and look out for another update in 2012!

Stay in Sport Update – October 2011

 
A lot has been happening behind the scenes since the last time I wrote. Our four target sports that we are working with are putting together initiatives so that you can take part at your college with some have-a-go sessions. Make sure you keep an eye out for the information that will come out in Term 1 so that you can try out a new sport! I will also put information on this page so you won’t miss out.

A meeting with schools is also taking place in term 4. This will help us find out why some students may not take part in sport. From here we will set up some programmes that remove these barriers and get you all giving sports a go in term 1 and 2 next year. If you have any ideas yourself then please contact me or get hold of your school sports coordinator.

The leavers database will be updated with the 2011 school leavers information and will be sent out to local clubs so that they can get in touch. Please keep an eye out for this and help us encourage our young people to Stay in Sport.

Good luck to all those who have exams and to the year 13’s especially!!

As always, don’t hesitate to get hold of me if you have any queries.

Update September 2011

Hey Guys!!!

My name is Jess and I am employed by Activation to help out with this exciting Kiwisport project. I am over from the UK for a year and have a huge passion and love for sport. At home I played a lot of hockey which I intend to take up here but I was also involved in many other sports. As well as working for Activation, I am planning to try different activities such as rock climbing, do some travelling and of course join in with the festivities of the Rugby World Cup!!

Following the success of the SSTP last year, the project has had a bit of a revamp. We have chosen four non-traditional sports to focus on; ultimate frizbee, golf, tennis and swimming. We will be working closely with clubs to develop these four sports and hopefully see an increase in participation by students.

In schools we will be once again focusing on pupils starting up new sports and staying involved in their current choices when they move from intermediate to college, and leave college for the big wide world. Schools will be coming up with initiatives to encourage year 9’s who aren’t already involved in sport to take part, getting clubs to be more proactive in contacting you as potential members, and focusing on reducing the barriers that stop you participating in sport.

As you can see Activation are very busy with these new concepts to increase participation in sport and to get you guys to keep playing!! Don’t forget to check the online database of sports contacts if you’re leaving school, moving into Wellington, or further abroad!

Any queries please don’t hesitate to get hold of me.

Jess Howse
Work: 045272138
Mobile: 0211446371
Emai: Jess.howse@uhcc.govt.nz

Update  August 2011

Activation has had the funding for some of the Secondary School Transition Project (aimed at encouraging schools leavers to stay in sport) actions.  The team have new project actions in the planning stages now, with a stronger focus on individual sport this year.  More to come later in term 3!

Update July 2011

Click here to download the final report for the Secondary Schools Transition Project (pdf 319K)

Update June 2011

Creating Waves in the Sporting Scene – Student Sport Transitions Project Completion: An Upper Hutt Milestone

An exciting sports initiative has been underway for the past twelve months and created a huge range of opportunities for the Upper Hutt Community. Courtesy of Kiwisport funding through Sport Wellington, Activation, the Upper Hutt City Council Community Recreation team have been focusing on secondary school leavers, club development and the transition in and out of college sport.

The project officially came to an end in June 2011 with some outstanding results, far surpassing the identified targets in a number of areas. Full results and information about the scope of this project can be found in a vibrant newsletter specifically developed to showcase this project. It can be accessed online at: http://www.upperhuttcity.com/stayinsport

An external evaluation was undertaken for this project and has given much insight into the real benefits that have been seen for Upper Hutt.

“The project has put in place the building blocks for long term cultural change. Club personnel were in general very positive about their involvement in the project and how they made improvements for improved participation by young people in their clubs.” - External Evaluator
In addition, the evaluation has provided key recommendations for future work and it is hoped through further funding elements of this project can continue in 2011 and 2012. Several new initiatives have also been identified that would contribute significantly to areas of need. Activation will be pushing hard to maintain the momentum developed during this project and build on the groundwork achieved to date. Michael Mercer, the project coordinator says that “This project has achieved some great things and has further potential for our community. Not only has it touched our local young people, but provided a huge boost to our clubs, schools and volunteers.”

Some key highlights include; an additional fifty young people are now members at local clubs, sixty-five students and fifteen volunteers have undergone coaching and refereeing training, seventeen new sports teams have been entered in college sport competitions from our local secondary schools, a total of 2998 students and local community members have been affected as a result of this project. “There has been a significant increase in support mechanisms to help schools, clubs and students to stay in sport,” states the external evaluator, summing up the remarkable impact this project has had to Upper Hutt’s sports and recreation sector.

Michael can be contacted at Activation with the following details:
Tel: 04 527 2169 ext. 725 
Cell:027 213 7583
Email: mike.mercer@uhcc.govt.nz  

Update May 2011

 

The project is now coming to an official close during June and July however many aspects will continue into the future. The leavers database will continue to occur at the conclusion of each school year, providing clubs with a captive group of local people who are interested and passionate about their sport and ready to be contacted over the summer break. Year 8 presentations will continue allowing senior students from college's to be guest speakers about what they can expect in terms of college sport in future years. We will also examine whether there are more ways to target year 9's that are not participating in school sport alongside the sports coordinators at our local college's.

Recently Basketball has had refereeing and coaching courses completed, allowing many more trained people in our community to assist local college's and group teams and competitions. We have also had some significant club based programmes in our secondary schools. Football, hockey, league and rugby have all run several promotional campaigns to try and encourage students to continue to be involved at a club level after completion of secondary school. They have also built the profile of their particular sports by running many have a go sessions and working clocely with existing school teams to increase the skill levels and numbers of interested students while they are still at college.

A clubs resource is available online in PDF form. This resource details how clubs can engage and retain young members and provides some general information about coaching generation Y. This resource was a result of some development opportunities offered to local clubs in March.

Evaluations are underway to guage the benefit this proejct has had in Upper Hutt so keep your eyes out for further posts about the success. Have a browse through the contacts on the site (these have been updated for 2011) and get involved!

Update January 2011

 

Upcoming coaching courses in Basketball, Football (part 2) and a generic coaching course for members of athletics, softball, roller hockey and other volunteers will be coming up February and March. Please let us know if you are interested in attending these courses!
Remember – the contacts on this website are available for you to use as you wish. Please give me a bell if you have any questions!

A Buddy Up scheme for senior students to help year 9s into sport is also underway for term 1 2011. There are several senior students available for any juniors who may have questions about how to get involved in sports, who to talk to, or what is available. If you don’t know who your buddies are, please get in touch.

Clubs are starting to be contacted to organise a series of opportunities for year 9 – 11 students in colleges during term 1 and 2 for 2011 and wider work with clubs on targeting young people, attracting them to their clubs and retaining young members is happening in a number of facets. The advisory board are taking an active role in this alongside the Activation team and there is a great development workshop on March 29th with an expert on youth participation and engagement in sport, Farah Palmer. If you don’t know Farah, she is worth looking up as she has achieved some amazing things. A great opportunity to come along and hear a New Zealand sporting legend! All are welcome.

Click here to contact Mike about any of the above.

Update - December 2010

 

The start of December rocks around and this project is carrying on full steam. We have three coaching courses coming up for Tennis, Football and Hockey before the New Year and plans for another couple next year. There are a number of students benefitting from this - getting the course costs completely covered and their level 1 accreditation for free!!!

Check out the links on this website for information about local, regional and national sporting opportunities!

In addition the advisory group is up and running with the sports leaders from each of the colleges involved. Please get in touch if you have any questions about this project!

Update 2 – senior student courses confirmed

 

Coaching courses for year 11 – 13 students are currently being confirmed! We have courses in Netball, Cricket, Basketball, Tennis, Soccer, League and Hockey. If you are interested but haven’t registered get in touch with the Project Coordinator as soon as possible!

Update 1 - website goes live!

 

Launch of the draft copy of the website!!! Please feel free to navigate around the website