Rotorua Athlete Development Charitable Trust making positive impact with athletes

organised an event for kids to come from school and give kayaking a go. Photo / Supplied

A local "epic" trust is dedicated to carrying on its support of local athletes while encouraging them to give back to their community.

The Rotorua Athlete Development Trust (RAD) is an independent initiative established in 2019 to empower athletes to do charitable work in the Rotorua community.

The trust provides grants and support to athletes to do charitable work in line with the purposes of the trust.

The trust aims to help mentor and develop local athletes into role models who can inspire the next generation of Rotorua champions.

The trustees of Rotorua Athlete Development Charitable Trust are current and former athletes who represented New Zealand and called Rotorua home.

Trustee Mike Dawson says the trust was set up because they believe it's important to help support young up-and-coming athletes in our community, and to provide them with some financial support to assist in their sporting career.

He says it is a great way to facilitate some community give-back and to introduce these young athletes to a new social side of the sport.

"It's having these up-and-coming athletes promoting healthy activity and developing the skills of those around them in the community, and providing them with leadership opportunities."

The grants are open to athletes aged 16-23.

Rotorua canoe slalom paddler George Snook. Photo / Andrew Warner

Local canoe slalom paddler George Snook is one of the athletes who has received support from the trust.

He says he organised an event for kids to come from school and give kayaking a go.

The trust gave him a grant, which helped him to run the event and supported him in his sport.

"It was really cool to have all the kids come out from different schools.

"There was a range of abilities and we had them all out on the lake enjoying the water, learning new things and meeting one another."

They had a nice barbecue afterwards too, he says.

He says RAD is an epic trust, and that running an event like this is a great way to give back.

George has just made the senior NZ Extreme Canoe Slalom team and will be racing with the team later this year.

Alexa Harvey in action. Photo / Supplied

Western Heights High School student and football player Alexa Harvey ran skills clinics for girls at Selwyn Primary School.

After each clinic she wrote up what she had learned and would send it to the trust, who then gave her a donation for every two sessions.

Alexa says she had enjoyed seeing the involvement of girls in the sport, as while growing up there had not been many girls playing.

"[The trust] definitely helps you give back to your sport community and the money you receive can help you to get further places in your sport."

At the moment Alexa is playing for the Lakes Football Club premier women's team. She is hoping Māori football will have some momentum this year and is looking forward to the Māori Football Aotearoa North V South Games in January 2023.

Basketballer Ernest Kerr did some after-school coaching, though it was cut short due to Covid lockdown.

Basketballer Ernest Kerr did some after-school coaching. Photo / Supplied

"It's always good to do community things like that and it was cool to see how much the kids enjoyed what they were doing. It was great seeing them all enjoying it and getting competitive."

He says money received from the trust helped him to buy new basketball shoes and pay the sport's fees for the year.

Ernest is now in Nelson - where he is going to be playing with the Nelson Giants - and the season starts in just under a month.

To apply for funding, an athlete must complete an application form and outline the charitable work they will do and how this will benefit the Rotorua community.

For more information go to www.radcharitabletrust.org.