Whanau day popular at club

Taureikura Norris, 11, left, and Awatea Douglas, 7, at the Waikite Rugby Club Whanau Day on March 6. PHOTO/STEPHEN PARKER

Getting young people involved in sport has got off to a good start for a local sports club after hundreds of people attended a whanau day this month.

Waikite Rugby and Sports Club held the inaugural Whanau Fun Day on March 6 as part of registrations for junior rugby this year as a way of highlighting what the club had to offer.

Waikite Junior Rugby co-ordinator Mike Miller said although the club was Ngati Whakaue-based, it was trying to grow its membership to anyone who wanted to take part.

Hundreds of children and their families attended the fun day with more than 130 children registering to play. Mr Miller said they expected more in the coming weeks.

He said it was hard to gauge how many people attended the fun day.

"Let's put it this way, we had 300 drinks and 400 sausages and we had nothing left after only a few hours."

Mr Miller said it was the club's goal to grow its membership, and it appeared to be paying off so far.

"We had seven teams when we came in (as junior rugby co-ordinator), 12 last year and are aiming to have at least 14 this year. It's better than our expectations. Everyone responded really well which is good news.

"Not everyone who came is going to sign up to play but they got to see what we have to offer and maybe they can contribute in some way."

The fun day was held from 10am to 1pm and included a bouncy castle, trampoline, a fire engine, logging trucks supplied by Hoka Haulage, face painting, colouring in and games and prizes sponsored by Flip Out. Club volunteers also played kick and catch with the children.

Steve Roberts from Adventure Playground Rotorua also provided a six-seater off-road vehicle giving children rides around the club and Zorb provided zorbs for the children to play with.

Mr Miller said two more registration nights will be held on March 23 and April 13 at the club on Bellvue Rd from 5.30pm to 7.30pm.