Taupō sport boosted by new partnership

The Tonagariro Sports Advisory Council holds a KiwiSport First Kick Football session at the southern end of Lake Taupō, for Tongariro and Kuratau Year 1 and 2 students. Photo / Supplied

New sponsorship is set to give junior sport a big boost and will also mark the return of the Taupō District Sports Awards.

The Lake Taupō District Sports Advisory Council has a new partnership and funding from the Gary Ramsay Charitable Trust that would allow it to continue running and even expand its successful KiwiSport programme.

Taupō KiwiSport co-ordinator Sue Maclean said the partnership would also allow for the return of the Taupō District Sports Awards, which recognise the district’s elite sportspeople. There would be more detail on that later in the year.

The KiwiSport programme helps youth develop skills at the grassroots level and gives them access to a wide range of sports.

It has been in Taupō primary schools since 2011, and 15 schools are now involved. Tongariro High School has also recently joined the programme.

Eighteen sports codes have been offered as taster sessions for students to “have a go”, Maclean said, including orienteering, tennis, disc golf, and volleyball, as well as the more traditional sports of hockey, football, cricket and more.

She said the success of the programme was evident in the increase local sports clubs had seen in junior participation in their competitions.

Festivals and interschool events were also a big part of the programme.

The Gary Ramsay Charitable Trust was set up in 2018, and came from the estate of former Kinloch resident Gary Ramsay, who died in 2014.

“Gary was a huge advocate of kids getting outside and keeping active and was quoted as saying ‘Like life, you get out of sport what you put in’,” Maclean said.

This year, term one ended with two successful KiwiSport tournaments, including the Upper Central Rugby League school festival, where six schools took part.

Northern Districts Cricket concluded its Girls SuperSmash fundamental skills programme with a festival in the last week of the school term at Owen Delany Park, and 17 teams took part, the biggest number since the festival began four years ago.

Term two would start with the annual T-ball tournament at Crown Park.

The orienteering club would also be in schools delivering and hosting a big schools day at Spa Park in June.

With the Women’s World Cup being hosted in New Zealand, the advisory council would also be looking to run a Football Girls World Cup Festival at the end of term two.

Working alongside King Country Rugby, the advisory council would also launch a Tackle 5s pilot in schools, finishing with a one-day tournament in Tūrangi.

This term would also have the start of the first interschool event of the year with swimming at AC Baths at the end of June.