Rangatahi building the future

Aidan O'Connor, Sport Whanganui's sport and club partnership lead, talks leadership with Morgan-Lee Cassidy (left), Sophie King, and Isis Dennison-Downie.

Sport Whanganui with support from Whanganui and Partners, Whanganui Community Foundation, and Community Education Whanganui will be providing a series of governance workshops facilitated by The Wheelhouse to sports clubs and codes over the next month.

To align with Youth Week 2022 the collective launched the first workshop for rangatahi to further develop leadership skills.

Eleven rangatahi from Whanganui High School, Whanganui Girls College and Whanganui City College, and other youth leaders took part in the two-hour workshop which covered the nuts and bolts of good governance, strategic planning and leadership.

Marcia Millard from The Wheelhouse facilitated the workshop and enjoyed her time interacting with rangatahi.

"At the Wheelhouse, our purpose is to develop strong and sustainable community organisations through improved governance and leadership," she says.

"It is always a privilege to work alongside our young community leaders and they should never be underestimated! I thoroughly enjoyed working with the group today.

"The one exercise that gave me insight into their expectations of others and themselves as leaders was the discussion had regarding the skills and attributes they would expect to see demonstrated from a leader in their community."

The group explored determining the vision and purpose of an organisation and shared their thoughts on the qualities that define a good leader.

Members of the YESS Council attended and added their experience to the mix, sharing their vision and purpose.

Morgan-Lee Cassidy, a member of the YESS Council, described the workshop.

"I found this very useful to understand the logistics behind organising board meetings. I also learned a lot about leadership and what it takes to be a successful leader."

The workshop's purpose was to learn the basics of building an action plan. Rangatahi are fundamental to the future and it's heartening to know that with the right leadership tools their voice has more avenues to make an impact.