Te Puke Gymsport initiative is getting kids moving

Pupils from Pukehina School stretching at Te Puke Gymsport and Parkour.

If the response of pupils from Pukehina School is any guide, an initiative to get kids moving has been a resounding success.

From the start of the year, eight local schools have taken part in Movement Unlimited, an initiative at Te Puke Gymsport and Parkour.

Students from the schools took part in have-a-go days during Term 1. From each school, 10 were selected to take part in a term-long programme during term 2 covering gymnastics, parkour, trampolining and tumbling.

This term, the have-a-go days are being repeated and 10 more students will be selected for a programme during Term 4.

Te Puke Gymsport and Parkour general manager Erin McKenna says 1350 students will visit the gym this term.

Through Sport Bay of Plenty, the initiative is funded from the Tu Manawa Aotearoa Active Fund,98 which aims to increase the physical activity levels of children and young people.

“We worked with Sport Bay of Plenty’s schools co-ordinator to put the application together and we talked to the schools to see if they would be interested in doing something like this,” says Erin.

As well as targeting those who might not otherwise have the opportunity, the fund also aims to increase girls’ participation in physical activity.

Year 2 Pukehina School student Iraia Paul. Photo / Stuart Whitaker

“Our goal was to bring them here and build their movement confidence so they are more confident to do things outside,” says Erin.

“We are hoping we are building confidence here so they are able to play more at school at lunchtime or join a team or participate in the cross country where otherwise they wouldn’t.”

The eight schools are Te Puke Primary, Te Ranga, Ōtamarākau, Rangiuru, Pukehina, Maketū, Paengaroa and Pongakawa.

Parkour, in particular, is suited to transferring to the school playground.

“That is part of the programme that we’ve picked up on,” says Pukehina School principal Indra Thomas.

“Now they are confident to get on high monkey bars and they’ve got the body strength to get over those challenging obstacles in our playground.”

The obstacles have been turned into a parkour challenge.

“Twice a week we go out there. It’s a timed challenge and their goal is, before they can go onto the next obstacle, they have to get everybody over the first obstacle so there’s a lot of teamwork, a lot of encouragement, a lot of helping out, supporting the person that’s finding it difficult - that’s been really awesome.”

She says turning the activity into a challenge came from the visits to the Te Puke Gymsport.

Pukehina School’s Serenity Mahuta on the ropes.

The programme also fits well into Pukehina School’s strategic plan that seeks to improve or increase confidence in sports and physical education.

“Just seeing the motivation and the give-it-a-go attitude, the stamina and it’s built their body strength and agility - yeah, it’s a amazing programme.”

“Attendance has been 100 per cent every time we’ve gone to gymsport, which is really, really awesome and we opened it up to whānau, so if whānau were able to go in and have a look and support their children, they were able to.

Indra says the students now also know gymnastics is another sports avenue for them to possibly pursue.

Peter Flavell at Te Puke Gymsport's have-a-go day. Photo / Stuart Whitaker

“It also takes the fear away from them so they are actually landing properly and the activity or skill they are teaching, they feel more confident with because they can deal with that situation.

“The people in there are really, really good. We always had two people on the ground with our children and we’ve had our staff too that also got involved and really enjoyed the sessions as well.”