Sport Whanganui supporting sports codes across Whanganui, Ruapehu and Rangitīkei

Aidan O'Connor out and about with the Sport Whanganui team at the Castlecliff Beach Clean Up organised by the Multicultural Council Of Whanganui/Rangitikei. From left: Azian, helping as part of the Whanganui community; Jodie, Aidan, Ross and Harry, from Sport Whanganui; and Pushpa Prasad, president of the Multicultural Council of Whanganui/Rangitikei.

Sport is committed to activating, strengthening and connecting our sports community, and one of the key roles in the organisation, held by Aidan O'Connor, is the sport and club partnership lead.

The purpose of Aidan's role is about supporting sports codes across Whanganui, Ruapehu and Rangitikei to build for the future.

Our region has a huge number of people, involved in variety of sport codes, who dedicate their time and energy into making sport available for adults and youth. Aidan brings the different codes together through the Sport Network to share ideas and work together to maximise opportunities for the communities.

Aidan has a vital relationship with Sport New Zealand and delivers the organisation's cutting-edge initiatives through the Sport Network.

One of the many positive aspects of living in provincial New Zealand is how easy it is to build connections and get to know people.

Relationships are the gold in terms of working together to create change and build better experiences across all facets of our lives: including a robust sports system with higher participation numbers, and great experiences for sports participants and volunteers.

A few questions were posed to Aidan about his role and living in Whanganui. Aidan is a relative newcomer to Whanganui, starting at Sport Whanganui in early 2021.

■ What attracted you to work in sport?

Sport has always been a massive part of my life. I've made so many friends and have so many great memories from my younger years, playing basketball, hockey, and cricket. Sport has taught me so much. It influenced my career path. I completed a Bachelor of Business, majoring in Sport Business Management, which is kind of a misnomer.

The study didn't focus solely on business in terms of money-making, but what positive impact sport can have on a community. It definitely impacted my philosophy of what success looks like. Success for me is community based, and it's about people feeling part of the community and one of the ways to experience that connection is through sport.

■ No organisation is an island. Who are the main regional organisations you work with?

Assisting sports codes is the purpose for all relationships in my role. Working closely with Whanganui District Council and local facility providers is hugely important. Easy access to good facilities is fundamental to any sport. Sport New Zealand's Sport Development and Spaces and Places teams provide advice and guidance from a national level. It's then down to Sport Whanganui to shape that guidance in a way that works for our community. Sport New Zealand doesn't expect a one size fits all approach across the country. That's where we come in with a locally led approach.

■ What's Sport Whanganui's process to shape a locally led approach?

An essential part of Sport Whanganui's job is to understand the bigger picture of what is happening in our communities and recognising the trends. Whitney Cox, our research and evaluation lead, lives for crunching data to determine the community's needs. Sport New Zealand's advice and the local data, combined with feedback from sports codes on the ground, makes it top-down bottom-up approach, where we can meet in the middle to make change.

■ Tell us about some current initiatives you are working on?

Currently, the two long term pieces of work are the Springvale Park Development Plan and Sport New Zealand's Balance is Better initiative.

Whitney and I, on behalf of the Whanganui District Council, are working through the Springvale Park Development Plan. The plan is all about making Springvale Park a facility for the future. Sport New Zealand's Spaces and Places team provide the big picture future thinking and Sport Whanganui compares that with our current set of data on the park use. Whitney and I then work together to gather the thoughts of sports codes and users of sporting facilities.

■ What changes do they see need to be made to improve our existing facilities for the future?

We have spent many hours gathering the sports codes' thoughts and ideas on improving Springvale Park for users. It's been a fantastic opportunity to learn more about the sporting communities' needs and the next phase is to go out to the public to gather more insights. The final recommendations will be presented to Whanganui District Council.

Sport Whanganui is also driving a Sport New Zealand initiative, Balance is Better. The nationwide initiative designed to encourage participation in youth sport by creating positive sport experiences.

We are currently working with local sports codes to give youth opportunities to experience a variety of different sports, rather than specialisation in a single code. National research has shown that early specialisation is not the best approach for happy and healthy youth. It's about taking the foot off the gas and creating a sport environment that is more inclusive.

Practically, from a programme perspective, let's say a sports code had an idea to run an all-girls holiday programme. Sport Whanganui's role is to share the information that we have gathered around the need and assist the sports code in planning the delivery of the programme.

To stay connected with the Sport Whanganui team during level 4 Lockdown, Aidan shared a photo of the whānau heading out for some fresh air. Pictured are Aidan (left), Stella, and Sarah.

■ On a personal note, how have you found settling in Whanganui?

My wife, Sarah, has family here. Life in Auckland had its challenges, and to be fair, I was keener than Sarah to make the move. In January this year we had our first child, Stella, who has been a joy and having the support of family has been fantastic.

Life is so much easier here. We're now five to 10 minutes away from work and sports facilities. No more traffic jams. Nature is close too. We have the awa almost on our doorstep and there's an abundance of walks in the area. People are friendly here too. Sport Whanganui is a supportive team of people. It feels like an extension of the family with Stella and Sarah popping in from time to time. All in all, life is good.