Pupils play on hallowed ground

Pupils play on hallowed ground

About 600 excited school children sampled 18 different sports at the annual Pelorus Trust Stadium Sports Festival on Tuesday 12 March, at Westpac Stadium.
From volleyball, netball, rugby, football, gymsports, golf and cricket to more unfamiliar sports such as futsal, ultimate frisbee, karate and the traditional Maori game of horohopu, the children energetically ‘gave it a go’ under the direction of top names in New Zealand sports and coaching. They especially revelled in playing on the ‘hallowed turf’ at Westpac Stadium – usually a ground fielding top New Zealand sports teams.

Organised by Sport Wellington, the regional festival aims to give children a go at many sports they might not generally experience but might want to play regularly either through school, KiwiSport programmes or clubs.
A record 60 schools applied to win one of 20 spots at the tenth annual festival. Since its first year, the festival has given 6000 children from the Wellington Region a chance to try a large number of sporting codes.
Sport Wellington CEO Phil Gibbons says it was a great day for all the schools involved. “In particular it was an awesome opportunity for the kids to be introduced to a huge variety of new sports. The codes involved did a great job and as a result we hope to see their participation numbers increase.

“It was a fantastic day for all involved and Sport Wellington would like to thank Wellington Regional Stadium Trust for use of Westpac Stadium and all our sponsors for their on-going support of this event,” says Phil.

Many of the codes delivering at the festival receive KiwiSport funding through Sport Wellington, to increase the number of school-aged children participating in organised sport.

Pelorus Trust CEO Scott Simmiss was impressed with the huge variety of sports participating, outside the traditional codes. “The children were having a lot of fun through the different methods of skills training and delivery. The festival was a great format for children to try new sports,” says Scott.

Many children at the festival were keen to come back next year.

Ends

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