World champion back in town

Left, Alicia Hoskin (centre), at Ormond School with (from left) Rupert Bousfield (Ormond), Caitlin Cook (Ormond), Tim De La Haye (Motu), Harry Newman (Motu).Pictures by Liam Clayton

Gisborne-born Olympian Alicia Hoskin was back in Gisborne this week, helping school children at six schools unearth their own “superpowers”.

The New Zealand kayaker was in Gisborne with the Bayleys Youth Ambassador programme, whose purpose is to empower the youth of Tairāwhiti and give back to the community.

“Having the opportunity to share in the delight and privilege of competing for New Zealand is amazing, but what I love equally as much is being able to share my journey and the things I have learnt along the way,” Alicia said.

“My partnership with Bayleys Gisborne and the creation of the Youth Ambassador role has provided me with an opportunity to team up with a group of great people who share my passion for community and growth. Through our work together I was able to connect with local schools to talk about something I’m super passionate about, superpowers! Those unique qualities we all have that help us be the best version of ourselves.”

Pupils were encouraged to enter a colouring competition to show off their superpowers.

“The colouring-in competition was a way to encourage tamariki to think about those special things that make them, them. They got to tell me all about their superpowers and have fun colouring in an awesome picture at the same time.”

Pupils from Kaiti, St Mary’s, Cobham, Ormond, Matawai and Motu schools were the lucky winners and got to spend an hour with Alicia,

Alicia said it was a privilege for her.

“As I shared my story with the kids, I used our K4 team as an example of how our unique qualities, our differences, can become our superpowers. I introduced each member in the team as a superhero with unique physical and character superpowers, and talked about how each hero used their powers to help the team be the best team they could be. We then watched the ’23 World Champs K4 500m race — the energy, anticipation, and excitement that builds in the room as the race progresses always makes me smile.

“And the cheers and whooping on the finish line is awesome. I loved sharing that moment with them.

“One of my favourite times in the session is when I invite the kids to share what their superpowers are, and what superpowers they see in their friends or whānau. I’m always amazed at how much ‘good stuff’ kids see in others.

“We also spoke about being resilient, and how we have the opportunity to learn from things that don’t turn out how we want or expect them to. I think it’s really important for the kids to hear about my full journey, not just the end result, and for them to understand that falling down and figuring out how to get back up is a normal and natural part of life, for everyone.

“I believe we all have our own unique superpowers that allow us to contribute something special to whichever team we belong to and if sharing my story and the superpowers message helps tamariki find theirs, my heart will be full.”

Ormond School principal Jonathan Poole said the talk was very well received.

“She had a great message for the children. Her story around the challenges and abstacles that she had to overcome to get to where she is was quite inspiring.

“Her talk around children finding their superpower and understanding what their superpower is and that not all superpowers happen at the same time of life was really good. She was amazing, and there were key messages around not giving up, finding your passion. I enjoyed it a lot.”