Kelly Schischka will welcome more than 14,000 athletes to the 2025 Zespri AIMS Games in Tauranga. Photo / Jamie Troughton, DScribe Media
From this weekend, Tauranga-raised Kelly Schischka will be joined in her hometown by more than 14,000 athletes.
That’s the size of the 2025 Zespri AIMS Games, an intermediate-aged tournament attended by children from more than 400 schools in New Zealand and the South Pacific. Running from Saturday, August 30, to Friday, September 5, there are 27 sporting codes, ranging from futsal to yachting, gymnastics to mountain biking, and many others in between.
Schischka has been the tournament director of Australasia’s largest junior sporting event since the 2022 edition.
“It’s such an incredible event, but what happens off the sports field is just as important as what happens on it,” Schischka says.
“You hear stories from people that competed at the games years ago, friends that they made there, memories that they made. These are kids that have fundraised all year, trained all year, there’s nothing else quite like it. They all go with their different goals and what they want to get out of the week is very different. I think that social aspect of what the event provides is just so valuable for those are lucky enough to be able to go.”
Since its inception in 2004, AIMS Games has grown from 760 competitors representing 17 schools and four sporting codes to an event that in 2024 had more athletes than the Paris Olympic Games.
For Schischka and her small team of staff, it’s a fulltime operation that involves booking venues two years out and also needs the involvement of a variety of stakeholders, such as local councils, regional and national sporting bodies, as well as volunteers, local businesses, residents and, of course, parents and teachers.
“It’s such a privilege for me in my role to see that every single person you come across at this event is incredibly passionate about ensuring that the kids that are here have the most amazing week of their lives and that really is evident at every touchpoint in terms of how much energy and time those people give to the event,” Schischka says.
“An event can never be successful if you don’t have community buy-in and one thing we have here in Tauranga and the Western Bay of Plenty is incredible support from our local community to enable the games to happen. They’re very welcoming, they roll out the red carpet for people and you can walk into any shop in the city and they know that the games are on and they love to chat to people about what they’re participating in.”
Schischka moved to Tauranga when she was 8, attending St Mary’s Primary School, Tauranga Intermediate and Katikati College. It wasn’t long before she found her way into hospitality and organising functions.
“My first dabble in event management was at a local venue in Papamoa. I worked there during my university holidays as a waitress. They had a function facility and I started working at some of the weddings and things that they were holding. I really loved it and became their part-time functions co-ordinator.”
Schischka and her husband went to Australia in their early 20s, living on the Gold Coast for 10 years, where she was the event manager for a large venue. She then became corporate hospitality manager for Supercars Australia for four years. But when they started their family, they decided to move back home to Tauranga. They now have two daughters, aged 5 and 10.
“I’m very passionate about Tauranga, it definitely feels like home for me. It’s incredibly special for them to be able to grow up here and play in the parks that I played in as a kid.”
After their return, Schischka got a role in the events team at Tauranga City Council. During those seven years, she was heavily involved with AIMS Games, first in an operational sense around licences and consents, and then on the event development side. Then, she joined the event itself.
Some of the key relationships for Schischka and her team are the ones with the co-ordinators for each of the 27 sporting codes, positions that are nominated by the regional or national sporting organisation.
“They’re in charge of what is best practice for Years 7 and 8 in New Zealand in their particular sporting code. They work closely with us around the competition delivery piece and what that looks like, as well as ensuring that they’re co-ordinating all the officials and referees, umpires and helpers that we need in terms of delivering whatever’s happening on the sports field or the court,” Schischka says.
“Ultimately, the people that are involved in these regional and national sporting organisations are very passionate about their sports as well and they love the opportunity to be able to contribute to the development of their sports at a grassroots level. Those opportunities are really special to them.”
The event operations team, which works closely with each of the 27 co-ordinators, also looks at the overarching operational piece. Part of their role is to get event approvals across three different councils, with sports spread across 29 different venues. There’s plenty to consider, from building consents for large marquees to traffic management plans, as well as things such as the 160 portable toilets that are spread across venues.
Clear marketing and communications are vital. They are sent to all the schools on their database each February to confirm what sports will be offered, where they will be held and what the registration process is.
“It’s a massive logistical undertaking for schools,” Schischka says.
When the games start, several hundred staff are involved and with the build-up complete, Schischka and her core team are on standby for any issues that arise, but they also have the chance to soak up the event itself. “I take every opportunity to enjoy it and to get out to as many of the venues as possible,” she says.
“I’m a real visual learner, so for me, it’s incredibly important to be on the ground and see things for myself. We have site managers and co-ordinators and people who are at the sites, so we know logistically and operationally things are being very well managed. But whenever there’s an opportunity for me to get out and about to as many sites as possible, I absolutely take it.”
When the athletes depart, the first job is to pack everything away and leave the venues as they found them. There’s an event debrief as soon as it’s practical to do so, covering everyone involved with the event, from major sponsors and sporting code co-ordinators, to suppliers and beyond. The team has a break around Christmas before getting back into work in January.
As well as this annual event, Schischka is proud New Zealand has a strong track record of hosting major women’s sporting events, including co-hosting the 2023 Fifa Women’s World Cup with Australia and previously hosting the Rugby World Cup and the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup in 2022. She thinks the success of those events is no coincidence.
“I would say the New Zealand has some of the most talented event managers in the world. I think what makes us different is that there’s a lot of Kiwi ingenuity involved, we think outside the box, we’re solutions-focused and I think those are qualities that make a really good event manager.”
This story was originally published at Newsroom.co.nz and is republished with permission.