Kalib Wallace mentors Te Puke youth to create stunning cricket club mural

Work on the mural at Te Puke Cricket Club is under way.

A group of young people are making the most of the holidays, sprucing up Te Puke’s cricket club with a colourful mural.

Kalib Wallace, from 247 Health and Fitness, mentors rangatahi in the Te Puke area at his gym, bringing them together to paint murals. He’s completed several large murals around the town already and was keen to work on this project for the Cricket Club.

The club wanted its clubrooms painted earlier this year, and it was one of the entries in the Western Bay of Plenty District Council’s Win a Working Bee competition. While it didn’t win, Volunteering Services decided to see if it could connect all the groups together and get the clubrooms painted with a mural added.

It’s been a joint effort between Kalib, Volunteering Services, the cricket club, COLAB, Ngā Kākano, Te Puke’s Mayoral Task Force for Jobs, Health and Wellness Centre Poutiri, the District Council and Mike Hauraki, a tutor in horticulture at Fruition, have all had input.

It’s the third mural the young people have worked on together, Mike says, and they also do a 12-week programme in personal training with Kalib — who is also the artist — at the gym.

Kalib says the group painted the cricket clubrooms blue earlier, and this time they’re learning spray painting to work on the mural. They all get a chance to graffiti their names on the bottom half of the wall before the work begins. It will all be covered by the full design anyway.

Mural creator Kalib Wallace

Then with plenty of reggae music to set the scene, they all began bringing Kalib’s design to life. It shows the local iwi and Rangiuri area in bright and eye-catching colours.

Steve Crossan from the cricket club says members are really excited about the mural.

“Kalib and the young people have done a great job and it will definitely make it an attraction. No one can ever find us and this will really put us on the map so we’re very thankful to have it done, with cricket season starting this weekend.”

Volunteering Services manager Angela Wallace said teams and organisations can use volunteering to give back to the community. For-purpose organisations often have projects that need a group of volunteers to complete.

“Group volunteering is a fantastic opportunity for businesses, clubs and other organisations to make a positive impact while fostering teamwork and community spirit. Register your interest at https://www.volunteeringservices.org.nz/team-volunteering/ or give the team a call on 021 225 2994.”