Hurricanes halfback Cam Roigard (left) and assistant coach Cory Jane with Keith Street School students Ronan Blomfield (centre left) and Brandon Joyce. Photo / Fin Ocheduszko Brown
Hurricanes halfback Cam Roigard (left) and assistant coach Cory Jane with Keith Street School students Ronan Blomfield (centre left) and Brandon Joyce. Photo / Fin Ocheduszko Brown
The Hurricanes rugby squad, as part of their pre-season preparations, visited Keith Street School in Whanganui to lend a hand.
On Wednesday, January 29 the team gathered at the school to surprise students and help out for the afternoon.
They were tasked with painting goalposts, rejuvenating the safety points on the playground, wheeling bark, cooking and serving lunch, and interacting with the children in their classrooms.
Assistant coach Cory Jane said the school visit had been as rewarding as he had expected.
“It’s cool because when I was a little kid, I had my heroes, so now some of these kids can say they have seen someone that is a Hurricane and is on TV,” Jane said.
“It might change their lives and they might want to be that person.
“The [players] love it and I know, as a former player, it grows them because they are looked up to and so the more they can interact with the community’s kids the better it is going to be for them and the kids for life.”
The Hurricanes players shovelling and wheeling bark at the school playground. Photo / Fin Ocheduszko Brown
Hurricanes and All Blacks halfback Cam Roigard agreed.
“I remember when I was a young fella, I would have loved to have a Super Rugby team come to our school and play some games with us,” Roigard said.
“This is a good opportunity to get to a place that hasn’t had too many opportunities to mix and mingle with some of the players that we’ve got and it’s cool now that we are set in that role model limelight.
“Being able to go to Whanganui, it’s a chance to get to know some of the kids and help out where we can.”
The Super Rugby side arrived in the River City on Tuesday and were billeted during their stay.
Jane said the team was nervous to be sent away for the night but came back in the morning loving the unique experience.
“There were a few nervous faces but, by the sounds of it, the boys absolutely loved it, it is something you don’t really get in professional rugby,” Jane said.
Some players played video games with the billet family’s children and backyard cricket.
Jane said the school experience expanded their connections with the wider region’s community.
“We want to interact with people in our region which probably don’t get to see us as often,” Jane said.
“It’s about how can we interact with our community, get out and involved and get them supporting us.”
Keith Street School principal Linda Ireton snapped up the opportunity to have the Super Rugby side visit.
“We feel amazingly privileged to have the Hurricanes approach us,” she said.
“They were really clear that they wanted to come and do some mahi that would make a difference for our kids.”
Ireton had to keep the visit secret after being told about it at the end of last year.
“[Students] knew they were doing a whakatau for some visitors, some had a sneaky suspicion, and then these big giant rugby players walked in - their little eyes popped out of their head,” Ireton said.
Many children would not realise the significance of the occasion but she hoped the encounter inspired them in some way.
“The Hurricanes understand our Keith Street School code, they have lived that to be at that level with their rugby,” Ireton said.
“We tried to make the link back to kids that, ‘that is why we have this code that we are always learning to be great humans, but also look at these guys, you can also aspire to be like they are’.
“We are wanting to inspire our kids. By seeing these men that are respectful, giving, kind and strong, they see a real role model.”
The visit highlighted a dilemma the school had with getting kids involved in sport, Ireton said.
“We hope to increase the amount of sports that our kids can play,” she said.
“One of the hardest things is finding coaches. In a perfect world, we’d have a van so that we could take them to their sporting fixtures.”
The Hurricanes are holding an open training session on Thursday afternoon at Cooks Gardens to interact with more fans before heading to New Plymouth to play the Chiefs.
Roigard said the brief visit to Whanganui had been eventful and a humbling experience to return the love shown to them.
“It’s who we represent and how we want to represent ourselves to the community - it wouldn’t be fair if we expected our fans to turn up if we weren’t trying to do our part,” he said.
“We might get a few more Hurricanes fans as well.”
The Hurricanes head to New Plymouth for their first pre-season hit-out on Saturday.
