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The team that plays together goes smokefree together

Wednesday 30 October 2013

The team that plays together goes smokefree together


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Horouta Gold Netball team celebrates another smokefree week with whanau. Back: Tiawhe Waihi, Challise Rutene, Monique Hobdell, Alice Wilson and Awhina Harding. Centre: Nerida Rawiri. Front: Simone Neilson and Ngahuria Akania. Team mates credit each other, family, work colleagues, and Turanga Health smokefree staff with helping them to become smokefree. Picture Credit: Emma Seymour.

HOROUTA Gold netball team is playing the game of its life as its players face the shared challenge of giving up smoking using Group Based Therapy with Turanga Health.

Eight out of ten girls in the premiere grade team were smokers before they quit cigarettes on Father’s Day, September 1, 2013.

Throughout the 2013 netball season they shared the love of netball coming sixth in the fiercely contested Gisborne club competition. Now the netballers are playing the game of their lives, says Team Captain Charnelle Rutene. “Smoking used to be part of our lives. But we are working hard at this together. We feed off each other. It’s like a game, but it’s the game of our lives. You don’t win or lose. It’s life.”

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Turanga Health smoking cessation Kaiāwhina Mere Waihi says groups produce higher quit success rates than individual treatment. The quit rate for individuals on a smokefree programme is around 30-40 percent. Around 50 percent are smokefree after three months if they have worked with a group. “Other people’s insights are important. When smokers who want to quit meet in a group they feel less social isolation and gain strength from each other’s stories and tips.”

Goal shoot Nerida Rawiri says the Horouta netball team shares its highs and lows, and going smokefree has thrown the team a curve ball. But shared pain is easier to deal with than individual pain. “We wanted to quit as a team. I wouldn’t be able to do this kind of thing on my own. I’ve tried before and it didn’t work. But now, when I am going through withdrawal I know there’s other people going through the same pain and just knowing that keeps me going and keeps me on track.”

Monique Hobdell, a non-smoking team member is right behind her brave team mates as they struggle with the challenge. She reckons in three months most of the team will be smokefree. “There’s a bond between us because of the netball and because we hang out off the court too. We are a team with the same goals and that’s why this is going to work.”

Ms Waihi says smokefree group members attend seven meetings over seven weeks. At the first meeting a quit date is set. On that day group members make a commitment not to smoke from the minute they wake up. The group makes a promise to each other they will not have one single puff. Buddies stay in touch every day via text and phone calls, helping each other stay on track with the long term goal, and overcome the daily, sometimes hourly, challenges.

At the weekly meetings the netball team discusses how they are coping. They also take a smokerlyzer test which reveals if they have any carbon monoxide on their breath. Carbon monoxide is the poison inhaled when people smoke. The netball team mates have celebrated their lowered readings each week as the poison slowly leaves their bodies.
The Horouta Gold girls are now up to seven weeks of being smokefree. Gone are the days grabbing a puff at training, and lighting up when they meet. It’s an important statement as the club rallies to become part of the proposal for a multi-purpose community, sport and recreation hub in Kaiti.

Team member Simone Neilson says quitting smoking is just one contribution the netball team can make to Horouta Sports Club as it gets more involved in the project aimed at the health of families living in Gisborne. “We want to show people our club is about whanau and healthy lifestyles and this is just one way.”

ENDS

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