Ignite Sport challenge follows Supreme Award win

1 November 2013
News release

Ignite Sport challenge follows Supreme Award win

Ignite Sport Trust offered a challenge to those attending the 2013 Wellington Airport Regional Community Awards last night. The charity organisation won the Supreme Award for voluntary work in the community at the event hosted jointly by Wellington Airport in association with The Community Trust of Wellington.

Ignite Sport, based in Lower Hutt, aims to make a positive difference among young people by finding, training and supporting sports volunteers to engage with their local school, club or community.

Ignite Sport Coordinator Kevin Goldsbury challenged those at the awards function to spread the word, to help out with ‘grass roots sport’.

“So many youngsters don’t get to take their first steps onto sports fields because there aren’t enough adults to blow whistles and supervise.

“Every school struggles to find coaches and managers. You can help us find that untapped potential of people who would love an opportunity to use their skills and be a good influence. It’s not just about being a sports coach. It’s about being a life coach, a mentor, someone who can build character or give advice when young people are dealing with the pressures of life both on and off the field,” says Mr Goldsbury.

Ignite Sport’s ‘Sports Serve’ project identifies needs within a school and finds the volunteers in the community to meet that need. As an example, participation in sport at Naenae College jumped from 36 percent to 44 percent by the end of 2011, following the Sports Serve pilot at the school where 14 volunteers worked with 130 young people. Other schools that now benefit from the Sports Serve model include Bishop Viard, Porirua College and Heretaunga College.

Ignite Sport’s other arm - Youth Development academy programmes - are delivered in several schools in the Wellington Region. They are geared toward character development, leadership coaching and working out barriers to success in addition to fundamental sports skill coaching.

“We work on the inner fitness of young people, so they have tools to navigate life’s challenges off the field,” says Mr Goldsbury.

He said it was incredibly humbling to win the Supreme Award and wanted to pass on Ignite Sport’s thanks to everyone who had helped make this happen – volunteers, supporters, schools and young people – as well as the community award sponsors.

“We were up against equally deserving competition, so congratulations to all the other charities which help make a difference in our communities.”

ENDS

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