Confronting challenges on the sporting front is nothing new for newly appointed Wairarapa-Bush Rugby Union community rugby administrator Doug Bracewell.
As a former Wairarapa, Central Districts and Canterbury cricket rep and Wairarapa-Bush rugby rep, he has faced more than his share of those on the actual field of play and he
has been every bit as active in an administration sense. His rugby experiences in that sphere include coaching the Wairarapa-Bush senior rep side while just last cricket season he coached the Central Hinds women's cricket team to victory in both the national Twenty20 and one-day competitions, successes he is hoping to repeat in 2010-11.
Work-wise too, Bracewell has been a major player in the advancement of the province's sporting prowess, having spent the past 12 years as sports development adviser for Sport Wairarapa. He will leave that post on January 7 before officially taking up his WBRFU appointment one month later.
Bracewell, who was elected to the Masterton District Council in October, is an advocate of the theory that sport is a vital component in the wellbeing of any community.
"Society owes a huge debt to sport, in that it teaches so many of the values which are necessary to make a community tick," he said. "We should never lose sight of that fact." Bracewell says rugby clubs, in particular, are a gathering place for the residents of smaller townships to meet and socialise together.
"In regions like ours it's a lot more than people just going along to watch a game of rugby ... it's where they discuss and sort out all types of local issues.
"You can't underestimate just how important the clubs can be when it comes to bringing people together."
Bracewell is aware, however, that for the clubs themselves there are still battles to fight, with none being more pressing than how to not only encourage youngsters to join them, but to stay with them through thick and thin.
"There is no question that once kids leave secondary schools they often turn away from sport and rugby is no different from any other code in that regard. We have to be pro-active in encouraging them to stick with it and to be more loyal to those who provide the chance for them to do so."
