Rotorua’s Westbrook Junior Soccer Club: Mana restored after $10k donation of new kits

Mikaira Allen, Kahu Tuhura, Coen Trembath and Legacy Tamehana in their new soccer kit. Photo / Stephen Parker

More than $10,000 of donated soccer kits has left Rotorua’s Westbrook Junior Soccer Club with a sense of pride and mana.

Civil engineering firm Kenai Limited’s chief executive, Caleb Male, contributed more than 260 kits - which included playing shirts and shorts - to the junior soccer club.

Male, who grew up in the area, said it was more than just a donation. It was about installing a sense of strength, pride and identity that will help the children grow into well-adjusted, confident adults.

“I know that playing football kept me out of mischief, but the club I grew up playing for has disappeared, and I didn’t want that to happen to Westbrook.”

Male said when Westbrook Junior Soccer Club president Mark Trembath reached out to him he did not hesitate to help.

The club’s focus was to provide children aged 4 to 12 with the opportunity to play football by removing “as many barriers as possible”, he said.

“If we help reduce a cost barrier for some kids, that is a really positive thing for our community,” he said.

“At the end of the day, we shouldn’t have a financial barrier to stop kids kicking a ball around on a grass field.”

Trembath said he designed the uniforms to give the club the identity that it needed.

Trembath said after the juniors received the uniforms they were grinning and many wanted to sleep in their new uniforms.

“This donation has put mana back into the club,” he said.

“Being proud of where you come from is very important and being proud of what you wear inspires you to play better to represent your club. It gives you a sense of belonging and value.

“How can you have mana if you aren’t showing it in what you’re wearing?”

Trembath said the previous logo was a soccer ball and did not have much identity behind it.

“We wanted to incorporate the club’s area, their whenua, and the important local phenomena to our members.

“It acknowledges the local area, the Utuhina Stream, maunga, the Pukehangi Hills, the Karamu spring, and the area where the club is based, Pomare.”

Trembath said the club’s membership had increased from 89 to more than 175 in 2023 since the donation and there was now a “beautiful wairua” (spirit) among the team.

“This mana had come back to Westbrook. It had always been there but there was something new.”

He said parents were “over the moon” and were asking if the club could start selling more merchandise.

“Now everyone’s rocking Westbrook hoodies, beanies, polos, scarves, jackets, umbrellas and we are on our second round of merchandise.”

The club also runs a Koha Shoes programme, which relies on donated boots to equip many of the children in the club. At the end of the season, the shoes are returned and another cycle starts.

Harriet Laughton is an Auckland University of Technology journalism student.