Bring Yer Boots: The campaign that helps keep kids in sport

The Bring Yer Boots! campaign is under way.

Society changes rapidly, every day, thanks to technology.

What doesn't change is the human need for healthy face-to-face interaction.

Lose that and you have a reclusive society, using technology to avoid interacting with people.

Imagine if we only communicated with each other online or via messaging on our phones.

It happens now - a conversation online without tone, empathy or the ability to see in person the impact of your words - positive or negative - is a poor conversation.

An emoji is no substitute for a real smile.

We say things online that we don't say in person, and it's not always healthy.

So maintaining that face to face contact is important for the healthy existence of the human race.

That's why the performing arts and sport are important.

For centuries, they have been important tenets of communities.

We take part, or we gather and spectate, and socialise - these things bring us together.

We have taken them for granted for a long time, but as we face a world where technology seeps deeper and deeper into the human psyche, they will become increasingly important.

Hawke's Bay Today started an annual campaign a few years ago, to help kids get into sport.

It is close to my heart as I conceived Bring Yer Boots, shared the idea with Hawke's Bay Today Andrew Austin, and Hawke's Bay embraced it with open arms in the first year.

And the region has kept it going, partly thanks to buy in and support from Sports Hawke's Bay, which has promoted it in the communities.

The campaign started because kids were missing out on sport due to the cost of sporting footwear.

And at a young age, growing kids need new boots or shoes pretty much every year.

Which means there is both a demand for footwear from growing kids, and a supply of footwear from families where kids find themselves with boots from one season, in good condition, that don't fit.

One day, who knows, there might be a Black Fern, Cap, Stick or All Black that were able to stay in sport because of Bring Yer Boots.

That'd be nice, but we do it so ordinary kids get to stay in sport.

And that's good for all of us, not just the kids,