29,000 volunteers on the ball in North

Northland sport needs thousands of volunteers to keep it running, like Shane Heswall, who manages his son's Onerahi Central junior cricket team. Photo / Michael Cunningham

Almost 29,000 Northland parents and guardians keep sport running in Northland.

Tens of thousands of kids wake up bright and early every Saturday morning, tie their boots or strap their pads on.

Increasingly often, they're followed by bleary-eyed parents coaching, refereeing or helping out to make it happen.

Almost 25 per cent of Northland adults volunteer in sport or recreation, the most recent Sport New Zealand survey found, a 5 per cent increase from the 2007/08 survey.

Without these 29,000 parents and adults, youth sport couldn't operate.

Almost 50 per cent of these volunteers coach or instruct and just over a quarter officiate or are in administration roles.

Shane Heswall manages his 11-year-old son's Onerahi Central cricket team.

He said youth sport needs adult volunteers to help things run smoothly, but the fear of having to coach often put parents off.

"To encourage parents in, we don't want them to have to coach. If you're a great cricket player, fantastic. But if you're just a mum or a dad that has no idea about cricket but can help manage kids, that's all we need," Mr Heswall said.

"If I coached kids how I play cricket, they'd be terrible. So what I do is I manage the kids and encourage them."

He said the involvement with the team went far beyond the game.

"I like seeing kids learn how to have teamwork, how to succeed, and how to fail. It gives them some resilience and it gives them some good friends. I love to see them smile and laugh - that's what it's about.

"We're teaching them good sportsmanship and to respect the opposition. I say, 'If they do a good shot, clap - don't boo them'. I try to teach them values in there.

He said spending time with his son - while his wife manages their daughter's cricket team - is valuable time together.

"Your kids love having you around and investing your time in them. What's three hours on a Saturday morning? Especially when it's summer and you're in sunglasses and a T-shirt. It's a win-win."

Sport New Zealand's senior coaching advisor Andrew Eade said adult volunteers were essential to making youth sport happen, but were often reluctant to put their hands up due to a lack of confidence.

But Mr Eade said more often than not, coaching and volunteering was a highly rewarding activity.

"For people who engage in coaching and get comfortable with what they're doing, very high levels report it's one of the most satisfying things they do in their lives," Mr Eade said.

"Once people discover that, it no longer becomes an imposition to find the two hours a week, it becomes the thing they look forward to most."

He said coaching was frustrating at times but the involvement went beyond the game.

"That ability for parent coaches to influence young people at a stage in their life when they need good adult roles models in a positive way can be enormously rewarding.

"It'll also frustrate the hell out of them, but that's what happens with some of the best experiences."