Excelling at the Y

Heading into the future: Staff at the Y are pouring their energy into programmes with an emphasis on engaging young people. Staff pictured are back row, from left: Anne Williams (head chef), Amber Kairau (board vice president), Naomi Whitewood (board president), Dwayne Russell (ALT Ed), Alyssa-Dion Whitewood, Steve Allen (wellbeing adviser). Front, from left: Leigh Gibson (chief executive), Alisha Robertson (marketing), Luisa Knight (fitness), Dianah Toley (ECE), Frauke Nieschmidt (Les Mills), Cheryl Te Rito (ALT Ed). Picture by Paul Rickard

Not many people might know it, but basketball was invented by the YMCA — at a training school in the US. An instructor trying to keep his students active in the snow-bound winters of Massachusetts came up with the game that millions now play around the world.

That sort of innovation and focus on young people is still ticking and stronger than ever at the Y, especially in Gisborne. It has always been about young people here since it was established as a Presbyterian Church facility and bible study group, helping young people gain confidence in speech competitions and reading.

Gisborne YMCA president, and board member, Naomi Whitewood is excited about the programmes and activities being run and planned for Gisborne — especially for young people here.

“The YMCA has been in New Zealand for 142 years, and in Gisborne we've been providing services to the community for just as long,” she said.

Over the last decade or so, the YMCA's scope has broadened as it shifts its focus to supporting children and the community, including offering early childcare.

“We're also providing alternative education services for young people not engaging well in mainstream school,” Ms Whitewood said.

“Young people are being encouraged to excel at the Y. Our Out-of-School Activities Recreation (OSCAR) offers before-school, after-school and holiday programmes for mokopuna, tamariki and rangatahi.”

While some of us might imagine the YMCA is all about playing pool or activities for men — as it was in its early days — the real Y today is much more than that. In Gisborne they are redeveloping a section of the Childers Road building, making it more fit for purpose and comfortable for the people who use it. A 24/7 fitness centre has expanded the Y's services to the community, and they are seeing members' health and wellbeing improving all the time. The Y is now one of Gisborne's leading fitness centres.

And they are making important connections with local organisations, something the YMCA has traditionally done well.

Recognising that many funding bodies these days prefer to see groups collaborating on projects, the Y has made a strong start to building links with Sport Gisborne Tairawhiti and Ka Pai Kaiti.

The child education facilities at Kaiti have been transformed. They were formerly dual-operation, but have now been amalgamated into one service — the bilingual Y Tamariki.

Y Kids has been given a facelift with a large deck and upgraded play area, while the Health Centre has also had a makeover. And all-encompassing memberships and weekly and flexible payment systems have encouraged more people to participate.

The Y is also investigating the notion of adding a ‘wellness' centre that might include other health providers with different offerings to those they already have available . . . but are complementary to a gym and exercise facility.

The Y is one of the providers offering breakaway holiday programmes for older children over the Christmas holidays, funded by the Ministry of Social Development.

“Then there are our other services that most people know us for, such as the stadium, the gym, health and fitness classes, group exercises . . . the YMCA has done that forever,” Ms Whitewood said.

“I've been going to the YMCA since I was seven, and most people of my generation would have learned gym there.”

She said she received her gym membership on her 14th birthday.

As a provider of recreational activities and part of a national federation and a global movement, the YMCA is working hard to be more responsive to its entire community. True to its original intention, the Y in Gisborne these days holds intensive literacy courses with the aim to improve participants' reading and writing skills.

“New members are coming in and there is a national investment in youth programmes, all helping the organisation become more responsive to Te Tiriti o Waitangi as well.

“It's about aligning it with our community, and it's a journey we're really excited about. We still have our generic services around health and wellness, which we're really proud of. All generations use the stadium, but strategically we have shifted our thinking to be more culturally responsive and a better fit for the community.”

The YMCA is putting a lot of energy into finding the right way to do it in a changing world. Their low-impact aerobics classes for the over-50s and all fitness levels continue.

Another good example of how they are changing with the times is the meals they provide.

“We do school lunches, and one of our priorities is that we provide a meal-a-day to any child who uses our facilities. We provide all our tamariki who use our education services with meals, and that's really important to us,” Ms Whitewood said.

The wellbeing services the Y offers are for everyone, from babies through to seniors. With healthy investment from Sport NZ, a programme called “Amplify the Y” is helping the YMCA increase its capability to provide for young people, and to better respond to the needs of the local community and te Tiriti o Waitangi.

“Under Amplify the Y, all YMCAs will deliver Raise Up, a youth-focused leadership programme. Every YMCA is being funded to have a coordinator who will build teams of youth leaders.

“It's a programme with strong evidence behind it, designed in New Zealand and run predominantly through various Auckland YMCAs. The Auckland YMCAs will support others and help build their capacity, and in Gisborne we'll adapt it to suit our local needs.

“We'll include things like supporting youth to understand where they come from, to understand their whakapapa and where they're going with employment initiatives . . . the ideal world is that we have a youth voice guiding what we do, advising the board how we take this forward.”

With the energy the Y is bringing to its programmes, the future is secure.