Fitness, plenty of kai and a feast of fun in the sun

Awanui Reeder (with hose) and All Black Jerome Kaino (in white shirt) take part in the Youth Pride project. Photo / Steven McNicholl

When All Black blindside flanker Jerome Kaino was growing up in South Auckland, summer could sometimes be a bit of a drag.

"There wasn't much to do around here that didn't involve travel, so we'd all just meet at a mate's place, kind of hang out and go to the park and play touch," he said.

"Often you'd end up with something like 50 on each side."

Kaino, who looked trim and fit despite admitting to a few too many umu over his summer break, yesterday returned to his old school, Papakura High, as an ambassador for the Youth Pride project.

The project, which provides free activities for children at six locations throughout South Auckland until the end of this month, is helping keep the kids off South Auckland's streets and out of trouble.

It has also attracted the help of some of Kaino's rugby mates, including Isaia Toeava, Joe Rokocoko, Anthony Tuitavake, New Zealand sevens captain DJ Forbes and Romi Ropati.

Added to that are league legends Stacey Jones, Awen Guttenbeil, Tawera Nikau, Monty Betham, Tea Ropati and Logan Swann and musicians Awanui Reeder from Nesian Mystic and Che Fu.

"We all come from backgrounds where we didn't have much, so when we heard about this we were keen on it to get in behind it," said Kaino.

"We can relate to what the kids are going through around these places and a programme like this keeps kids out of trouble ... if we had this back in my day this whole field would have been full."

Youth Pride director Tea Ropati said the programmes, which include team-based games focusing on leadership, teamwork and trust, were about teaching the children, aged between 5 and 17, to work with others.

He said the numbers of children attending was growing each day as the word spread about the free barbecue and fruit on offer, the water slides, bouncy castles and other games.

"We are just trying to give these kids a bit of fun and provide some motivation for them before they go back to school. They also get a pretty big feed," said Ropati.

"Our key messages are about always giving your best ... it's about being good people, showing respect for others and good manners and keeping out of mischief and they also meet some of these guys who have similar stories."

Counties Manukau police youth co-ordinator Dexter Traill could not confirm whether petty juvenile crime statistics rose in January as parents returned to work after the break.

But he said the programme was helping to reduce the risk of opportunistic crime.

"It certainly assists the community ... when kids are engaged in these sorts of activities it really does reduce the risk of crime."