'Kiwisport' kicks in extra $15m to get kids active

John Key sets an example after announcing Kiwisport at Bairds Primary. Photo / Brett Phibbs

Schools and sports clubs will get about $15 million extra to spend on sport each year in a Government attempt to get children more active.

Money for the Kiwisport programme will come mainly from cuts to health programmes and the scrapping of exercise promotion campaigns such as Mission-On and Push Play.

It is expected to be spent on a range of initiatives, from organised games for at-risk teenagers to secondary schools employing coaches from neighbouring sports clubs.

Prime Minister John Key announced the new policy yesterday at Bairds Mainfreight Primary School in Otara in front of a star-studded sporting line-up, including Olympic greats Sir John Walker and Sir Peter Snell, All Black coach Graham Henry and centre Conrad Smith and top triathlete Hamish Carter.

Mr Key said the Government was delivering on its election promise to move money from the back offices of sport into the frontline, where it would have much more impact.

It could go towards projects such as Sir John's Field of Dreams, a sports programme for at-risk youth which the Manukau City Councillor and former Olympic 1500m gold medallist started last year.

Sir John told the audience of adults and students sport was the best way to help children reach their potential.

"Future All Blacks could be sitting here in front of us but unless they get the opportunity, we'll never know."

The $20 million-a-year package includes $6 million for primary schools, $6 million for secondary schools and $8 million for regional sports trusts, which will support sports initiatives for school-aged children.

Most of the money for secondary schools replaces $5.3 million already being spent on sports co-ordinators.

The rest is extra money for sport but comes from cuts in other areas. Health Minister Tony Ryall said he had found about $7 million for Kiwisport from health savings, including $3 million from nutrition and community action initiatives, the loss of some co-ordinator positions at district health boards and other administrative costs.

In May the Government said it would save $15 million by scrapping Mission On, an anti-obesity website aimed at young people.

Sports Minister Murray McCully said the Push Play campaign - which included TV ads urging Kiwis to exercise more - was also winding down.

He described the extra $15 million a year as "seed money", which he hoped would be matched in time by councils, district health boards, commercial sponsors and community trusts.

College Sport chief executive Manoj Daji welcomed the announcement, which he said would give secondary schools much more flexibility in how they used their money.

He expected some schools would use it to pay local sports clubs to coach their teams. That could benefit clubs too, as students in the sports teams would be more likely to move on to club membership once they left school.

Labour's health spokeswoman Ruth Dyson said money had come from cuts to obesity, diabetes, smoking cessation and cardiovascular programmes.

"The Health Minister seems to think that kicking a ball around will help the one in five New Zealand children who are overweight or the one in 12 who are obese."

Dr Robyn Toomath of Foe (Fight the Obesity Epidemic), questioned how the Government would measure whether the extra money would make any difference once children left school.

Unless it showed a lot of children were taking up and sticking with sport, "children will be worse off, and there will be greater health inequality".