Sporty day ahead for kids

School sports

Wairarapa schools will be among those who will rub shoulders with some of the big names in New Zealand sport at the annual Pelorus Trust Stadium Sports Festival at Westpac Stadium in Wellington tomorrow.

Silver Fern Te Huinga Reo Selby-Rickit is taking time out from training to help deliver netball to the 600 primary school children sampling 18 different sports.

She will be joined by former Black Cap wicketkeeper Chris Nevin, former Silver Fern Sandra Edge and Wellington Firebirds Illi Tugaga and Barry Rhodes as part of an extensive mentoring programme.

"An extremely strong level of coaches, former internationals, professional coaches and experience will be on hand to give the kids a taste of different sports," says organiser David Fa'atafa of Sport Wellington. "It's exciting these sporting legends are coming together to expose their codes at a grass-roots level."

This year a record 60 schools applied to attend the regional event, of which only 20 spots were available.

A major objective of the festival is to give children the chance to have a pitch at sports they might not generally experience. It is hoped they will find a sport they enjoy and want to take up, or develop a taste for a variety of sports rather than specialising in one particular code early in life.

The excitement of the historic first Australian Football League (AFL) competition outside Australia will add to the energy of the children sampling the sports at "stations" around the Westpac Stadium. Budding AFL juniors can learn the steps in the very stadium where St Kilda will take on the Sydney Swans on Anzac Day.

New Zealand Hawkes member Kade Riddell, a Year 12 student at Hutt Valley High School, will be on hand to help deliver the AFL taster.

A new sport being showcased this year is volleyball, which is increasing in popularity among children according to a Sport NZ survey. The traditional Maori game of horo hopu, as well as gymsports and karate, will also be available for the children to try.