Some schools are having difficulty finding coaches for their teams. Photo / Brett Phibbs
Some Auckland schools are cutting back on after-school sport because they cannot find volunteers to coach their teams.
Howick College board of trustees member John Wyers told a workshop at a School Trustees Association conference this weekend his school had coaches for only a third of the 900
students who wanted to sign up for teams.
"We've got the first XI soccer team coaching themselves," said Mr Wyers.
"We had to turn a lot of kids away, we've had to disband some of the teams."
Over the past two years the board had implored teachers to help and appealed to the community in the school newsletter, without success.
As schools go back for the third term today , Howick College is not alone.
Northcote College principal Vicki Barrie has previously told the Herald her North Shore school has struggled to find coaches.
Long Bay College board member Andrew Stewart said teachers and parents were busier. Senior students were more often coaching their peers, though a decision to install floodlights on the college fields meant working parents could coach winter sports later at night, rather than the more traditional after school time.
Since 2006, schools, particularly primaries, have been required to develop students' physical activity, knowledge and skills and give priority to regular exercise sessions.
Sport and Recreation NZ senior adviser Lawrie Stewart told the Christchurch workshop several high schools were doing "strategic planning" for sport and recreation, which could mean culling sports that were not working and bringing in new ones.
Mt Roskill board of trustees member Ella Kumar said the school used sport and recreation students from Auckland's tertiary institutions to fill practical hours coaching school teams.
