Rugby, netball camps lots of fun

Helen Crawford takes drills at the netball camp held at Tolaga Bay Area School in the first week of the school holidays.Picture by Mereana Walker

You’ve got to have a ball.

The Uawa Sports Club fulfilled its strategic plan in the first week of the school holidays — by giving young players in rugby and netball a great experience.

Seven girls and 38 boys attended the Uawa Rugby Camp, while 30 youngsters took part in the netball camp at Tolaga Bay Area School.

Inspired by the success of a camp facilitated by the GHSOB club in Gisborne, Uawa Sports Club chairman Darryl Crawford and Uawa senior representative Laman Davies took 45 rugby players through fitness, ball-handling, tackling drills and the like.

Sports nutritionist Jeni Pearce spoke to the players about her role with High Performance Sport New Zealand, including her work with athletes leading up to the Commonwealth Games. She expanded on that at an evening session for parents and the wider community.

Three boys and 27 girls between the ages of five and 15 attended the netball camp. Co-ordinator Tania Hunter — with the assistance of Helen Crawford, Hana Chaffey, Kel Pardoe, Prudence Albert, Tania Hill, Blanche Wanoa and Corrina Parata-Babbington — delivered the programme.

All netball in Tolaga Bay is now under the umbrella of the Uawa Sports Club, and with seven netball teams and nine rugby teams to run, the camps could not have been held without strong support.

Water and fruit were supplied daily by Te Aitanga a Hauiti Hauora and the Say Ae to Wai project, with guest coach Henry Lamont of the Poverty Bay Rugby Football Union also distributing bags of “goodies” to those at the rugby camp.

Te Rauhuia Kutia-Ngata taught a haka specific to Uawa and the identity of Uawa Sports Club to camp attendees, with one of the most popular events being a competition to design the “Ultimate Uawa Rugby Jersey”.

“What a week for Uawa Sport,” Darryl Crawford said.

“This has been an awesome experience for our kids. We’d like to give a shout-out to our volunteer coaches and managers because for them, as well as for players and their families, the travel distances and time and financial commitments are big.”

Tania Hunter said the club was trying to offer more than just rugby, “although, of course, rugby is at the centre”, because the club could do so much more to help its community look towards a healthy lifestyle.

“In terms of embracing other codes, we now have Brazilian jiu-jitsu,” she said.

“Tutor Quentin Solomon is training 60 kids weekly, with their aim being to compete in the 2019 Maori BJJ Nationals.”