They have been responsible for making sure soccer in Wanganui is one of the largest gateways to sport for pre-school and first year schoolchildren and now they have been called local heroes for doing so.
Co-ordinators of the First Kicks training programme on Saturday mornings, Russell Eades and Jason Kinghave been recipients of the Visique Local Hero award.
Run through the optometrists' 63 nationwide clinics, the awards were set up to find people working hard and showing kindness to others.
Eades rang King a couple of weeks ago to tell him an unknown person had thrown their names into the hat. "I didn't ask to see who it was, but it was a real pleasure," said King.
Under their stewardship, interest in the First Kicks programme grew from 60 participants in 2012 to 180 children aged 3-6 on the May 11 opening day.
King said that had now grown to 250 registered youngsters.
He co-ordinates the volunteer coaches on Saturdays, while Eades secured sponsorship and kept the event managed locally so the costs to register a child fell to only $5.
Eades said he was inspired to run the programme in Wanganui because "sport needs to be grown from the grassroots up".
Due to their success, the Wanganui District Council has granted permission for them to run a summer soccer training clinic in town.
"They seem to miss out on all the summer sports this age group so it's been something we've been looking into for a long time," said King.
The men are among 348 people from 18 towns and 12 cities who have been named local heroes in the Visique campaign.
Their profiles were sent out over July and August.
"This is our first local heroes campaign, and we have been thrilled by the response and by how many people are perceived as heroes by those who nominated them," said Ross Hardey, Visique Wanganui Eyecare Centre optometrist.
"As a business that prides itself on serving the people of Wanganui, we felt this was an ideal way to give back to the community and take a moment to celebrate a hero in our midst," he said.
