‘Play Stations’ to offer sports gear for park users to borrow

Sport Whanganui partnership lead Paula Darlington with one of the new Play Stations. Photo / Sport Whanganui

Sports equipment will soon be available to borrow at Whanganui region parks as part of a pilot programme by Sport Whanganui and Replay to encourage casual sport.

It will offer colourful stainless-steel boxes - dubbed Play Stations - designed to store sports balls and equipment such as basketballs, rugby balls and footballs, which are available to be borrowed for casual games with friends and whānau.

Sport Whanganui has partnered with Whanganui businesses Ali Arc and Display Associates to design and build the Play Stations.

“Local insights show rangatahi lean towards less structured activities which encourage social interaction,” Sport Whanganui active community manager Jodie Brunger said.

“We also wanted to provide a fun, sustainable way to activate our open spaces.”

The first Play Station will be installed at Castlecliff Domain on December 15, and there are plans to gift the other two boxes to Ruapehu and Rangitīkei.

They will be regularly checked and topped up by Sport Whanganui with balls from Replay, a registered charity that collects and redistributes new and used sports gear.

Replay chief executive Denise McLean said the collaboration was a great way to help keep the community active.

“We are very appreciative of the wonderful partnership Replay has with Jodie and the team at Sport Whanganui,” she said.

“Together, we have [got] hundreds of donated new and used sport gear items back out into the local Whanganui community.”

Anyone who wants to donate new or unwanted sports gear to the Replay programme can contact Paula Darlington at Sport Whanganui on 06 349 2300.

Alternatively, people can drop gear directly at any Replay bin locations around Whanganui: The Whanganui Resource Recovery Centre, Rebel Sport, Hunting and Fishing New Zealand, and Mitre 10 Mega Whanganui.