Social forms of game aim to get people active

A109 Light Utility Helicopter flight with mayor Gisborne City from the air in November 2023.

GISBORNE social netball is under way for summer.

Last week the Youth Fast5 league started and the East Coast NetFest event was held.

Sport Gisborne Tairawhiti and Gisborne Netball Centre representatives hosted the NetFest day in Ruatoria.

Over 50 Year 9 and 10 students from Ngata Memorial College, Te Kura Kaupapa Maori o Te Waiu o Ngati Porou, Te Waha o Rerekohu Area School and TKKM o Kawakawa mai Tawhiti attended the event.

The kaupapa was to create a fun netball event “for rangatahi, led by rangatahi”. The day featured grass netball and Fast5 mixed-team games.

Gisborne's Fast5 youth league has 10 teams of high-school-aged students with around 90 students taking to the courts each week.

The programmes are Gisborne Netball Centre's youth-led and youth-designed initiatives to help increase the participation rates of young women in sport.

GNC youth development officer Monique McLeod said that although their focus was women and girls in sport, they had found that mixed leagues better met the needs of youth in the Tairawhiti area.

“Both initiatives focused on creating a fun social environment that could appeal to experienced netballers and those new to the game wanting to ‘have a go'.

“There has been a great vibe at both events and it's just awesome to see young people choosing to be active and benefiting from all those great things that we know can come from playing sport.”