Last week I had an impromptu visit to the Flaxmere Community Centre, and it was great to see the fantastic range of staff and work going on across the complex.
It was Wednesday afternoon, and as I pulled into the carpark there was a hive of activity buzzing in and out of the boxing academy. I thought yes, what a great chance to see this place in action, and entered to see Henare O'Keefe in full flight, training with a whole bunch of great young kids, systematically working on their combinations.
I was trying to keep a low profile, but next minute, Henare halted the class to introduce me, and immediately each child respectfully lined up to shake my hand, and introduce themselves..." welcome to the Flaxmere Boxing Academy" they all said. And immediately yes, I did feel welcome, it was great.
After watching the youngsters finish their session, I headed through the main entrance toward the strength and conditioning gym.
On the way in I met Graham Takie busily doing some planning for his next basketball academy activities, which is forging great connections out into the community. Into the gym and Raun Makirere-Haerewa is delivering some specialised personal training, and Henry Heke's warming up a broad range of Olympic lifters, including many family members young and old; again a humbling and warm welcome was afforded to me from all - a real sense of community spirit.
Next it was over to the swimming pool, where upstairs I found Olympian swimmer Willie Benson taking about 20 youngsters through an indoor session preparing them for the pool - another great bunch of kids, with a great mentor establishing routines and work ethic.
To see such leaders doing great work, using sport and activity to bring the community together, fostering positive behaviours and discipline is great to see. It's easy to overlook such work, but in this age of so much negative stuff going on around the world, we can't underestimate the value of such selfless community people.
It is a great centre, achieving positive community outcomes, the spirit of the place must have a positive impact, connecting back out to the wider community - stuff you can't measure, but some things you don't need to measure, it's just great to see.
An excellent facility with pool, gym, and indoor court space all on one site - humming, just like the great centres in Wairoa and Waipukurau. Ironically in the twin cities, we don't yet have our own such facility, but through positive collaboration and getting in behind the Sir Graeme Avery vision, hopefully we soon will.
The Hawke's Bay Community Health and Sport Centre will serve as the next step, for surrounding communities like Flaxmere to connect with and aspire to. We all need hope, the next step, a next challenge to aim for - a purpose and the belief to go with it.
The regional centre therefore is the critical missing piece to the puzzle - not only will it connect to our regional communities, but also provide the link to feed up to the national system and the national training centre at AUT Millennium in Auckland.
By developing our regional centre, we will complete the network - a network to complement our community centres, and connect them via an achievable hub and pathway through to the national centres.
A connecting network that will bring positive aspirational pathways for potential at risk youth, especially as over time, more of their community peers attain higher levels of sporting or professional achievement locally - and become the critical role models that all communities need.
Enhancing alignment and streamlining of community health initiatives, sport development and performance, and all the service providers and expertise that needs to be developed to support the system - and so enhancing the position and importance of EIT's leading role in our region - retaining and attracting more expertise here in Hawke's Bay.
The great community centres like Flaxmere, do an amazing job connecting into their surrounding areas. By joining them up to the new regional centre, the community experts of Flaxmere will be better connected to health and sport industry experts - both parties being empowered in their roles, combining to create a system that better connects leading initiatives into our communities and homes, inspiring pathways toward higher personal achievement and powerful community outcomes.
So rather than operating in our excellent silos, the regional Avery led Health and Sport Centre will facilitate alignment and collaboration, across communities and cultures, synergising off each other and enhancing everything we do as a region.
Flaxmere will always be their roots, but with the hub to connect with and aspire to at the Regional Sports Park, the great ground work being done at Community Centres will be further enhanced and capitalised upon.
For some, healthier happier lives, for others with higher performing goals, progressing on to fulfil their dreams in basketball, boxing, weightlifting, swimming, and more.
Marcus Agnew is the health & sport development manager at HB Community Fitness Centre Trust and is also a lecturer in sports science at EIT.
¦Business and civic leaders, organisers, experts in their field and interest groups can contribute opinions. Views expressed here are the writer's personal opinion, and not the newspaper's. Email editor@hbtoday.co.nz.
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