Give the kids some time

A LOT is said about what is expected of elite athletes when it comes to how they should live their lives.

This week brought the New Zealand women's Black Sticks team to our region and I was lucky enough to get along to Kamo Primary School to see them with their promotional hats on.

Though some may believe top sportspeople are the property of the public, I disagree. Yes, a lot of being an athlete is living in the public eye, but, that's not to say the public are the boss of you.

I was genuinely impressed with how the Black Sticks were with the young primary school kids, especially our Northland lass Charlotte Harrison.

The players were more than happy to take a few seconds and say "hi" to the kids and share a few words while they signed hockey sticks, shirts, pieces of paper, and even player of the day trophies. It might not seem like much but to primary school kids it's a lot.

When you compare that to the Blues' visit earlier this year, they seemed to have a lot more inside jokes; inside their team they were funny but outsiders had no idea what was funny.

While the Blues spent an afternoon rotating around different activities with primary school kids, there still seemed a separation between players and pupils.

Sometimes it's hard, yes. But, when you're an athlete that little kids look up to, whether you like to admit it or not, you have to be able to at least have a small conversation with them. Chances are that small conversation will make their day.

Even though being in the public eye might not be fun at times, those little moments where you can make a child's day leaves you with a nice feeling that you may make a difference. Who knows, one day those pupils might decide to take hockey seriously and become a Black Stick because Harrison took a moment to ask if they played hockey.