SPORT GENERAL - New gyms honour teachers

It's sadly ironic that former Whangarei Boys' High School physical education teacher Dave Scratton ran to Wellington to raise funds for a gymnasium he never got to teach in.
But yesterday 88-year-old Scratton and his fellow former PE teacher, 78-year-old Cliff Brunker, were honoured with gyms at the school named after each of them - recognising the combined 61 years of PE they put thousands of boys through.
And the thousands of cubic metres of "soxygen" the pair has inhaled.
"When you've got 70 boys in the gym, which you had to do when the weather was bad ... well, when they take their wet shoes and socks off - that smell is soxygen," Scratton said.
Scratton, who taught from 1955 to 1981, and Brunker (1955-1990) were quite the pair, building up a solid relationship with each other and the boys they taught - a relationship jokingly underestimated by Scratton. "We got by," he said.
The Brunkers and the Scrattons shared afternoon tea every Thursday, a tradition which still stands today.
So what do the old boys think about today's young lads?
According to Brunker, the discipline of the young men of today isn't quite the same as it was back in his early days, when there was more of an army-style feeling.
"You'd ask a class of boys to climb the ropes in the gym, and they'd do it.
"Nowadays they'd be asking `why?' and trying to get out of it."
Regardless, he says "boys are still boys" and for a lot of the boys he taught, their memories of PE will be "wet tennis courts, crowded gyms and the cold swimming pool".
Brunker recalls his days in charge of swimming lessons, and the small boys who struggled to cope with the cold water.
"Some of the skinny ones could only stay in the water for about eight minutes."
Former WBHS student and current teacher Greg Weaver claims to be one of those whom Brunker taught to swim - "You did me the world of good, Cliff."
Both Scratton and Brunker have had the honour, they say, of teaching boys who have gone on to achieve national records in their sport.
Scratton, himself a New Zealand record-holder in athletics, taught hurdler Ross Auld, and high-jumpers Chris de Jong and Warwick Pegram.
"They all had coaches outside of school, but they were great to teach," Scratton said.
Brunker is similarly proud to have taught Commonwealth Games swimmer Michael Davison, who later moved to Auckland for training.
The pair were honoured mid-year with a formal tribute dinner at the school, and the official opening of the Brunker Gym and the Scratton Gym yesterday.
They were also presented with photo albums filled with memories from former students who were unable to make the dinner in July.
WBHS principal Al Kirk said it was wonderful to acknowledge the huge amount of work the men had done for the boys over the years, and having the gyms named after the pair would ensure their legacies would live on at the school.
Both Scratton and Brunker are still involved in Masters athletics, and you can bet they'll be pounding the pavements for as long as they possibly can.