Somewhere to swing with safety

Papatoetoe Softball Club wants money to buy a purpose-built net and fencing so there'll be no more broken windows, reports Rowena Orejana.
Darren Pokai started playing softball at Robert White Park in Papatoetoe when he was 7. One side of the small park, he remembers, was fields.
Thirty-five years on, the park is boxed in by houses. This has put a kink in his swing: Darren, now president of Papatoetoe Softball Club, has limited games at the Pah Rd park.
To avoid upsetting the neighbours, a section of the park is now used only as a tee-ball area for non-competitive 5- to 7-year-old players.
"We haven't got a proper backstop like they have in Howick. We've stopped playing after we've broken so many windows. It is mainly the foul balls off the bat that go to the neighbours," says Mr Pokai.
For five years, the club has sought a purpose-built softball net and fences along the boundary of its number one outfield from the council.
"It's not that the council is not helping us. We know they have a lot on their list. We're just trying to move up on that list somehow," says club captain Aaron O'Brien.
The patience exercised by the club is remarkable, considering its teams won last year's division two Auckland championship, the under-16 plate championship and the under-13 championship with another as runner-up. Somehow, one would think they'd be more demanding.
"We've tried jumping up and down and nothing happened either. We got tired of holding our caps in our hands and just put them back up on our heads and played," says Mr O'Brien.
This year, the club is trying another tack by Papatoetoe Community Board for the funds. The softballers are keeping their fingers crossed.
"It's a great club," says Stephen Grey, board chairman. "It's well-run and well-maintained. We would be very supportive of the club. If the funding is available, we'll give it to them."
The club has 29 teams, each team playing 15 home and away games. They should host at least seven games per team, but the club hosts only an average of two.
Mr Pokai says they lose out on  income they could have generated had they hosted the games.
The club, however, is keeping its spirits up. More children are joining and more teams are being formed. Former White Sox captain Nardi Leonard is also set to coach the coaches as well as the under-15 girls team.
They keep the club going to keep the kids into sports and out of trouble.
"The key to it all is we're trying to provide somewhere for kids to play and participate in these troubled times," says Mr O'Brien. "We're just hindered by the facilities."