Kicking off young sports careers

THE RUCK: The kick-off in the 4-6 year grade match between Wanganui City (yellow) and Hunterville juniors resembled more of a rugby ruck than the start of a football match.PHOTOS/BEVAN CONLEY

RAIN ONLY added to the fun when 36 junior Hunterville footballers took on their Wanganui City Football Club counterparts at Wembley Park late on Tuesday afternoon.

The tournament featured two teams in each of the First Kicks (4-6-year), Fun Football (7-8) and Mini Football (10) junior grades designed to teach kids the basics of the beautiful game while having fun.

The match-up with City came about after the club's junior ranks co-ordinator and coach Kelvin Francis' wife Sharon read about the Hunterville Sports Club's plight in a Chronicle story in early May.

The story described how they had the uniforms, the eight trained coaches, the equipment and nearly 50 players - they just needed someone else to play.

"Sharon read the story at breakfast time and rang Hunterville junior football co-ordinator Rosie McIntyre immediately," Kelvin Francis said.

"Sharon offered for us to host the touring teams here and we would arrange teams for them to play and then perhaps we could travel to Hunterville to play them at a future date. That has now been arranged for June 7."

The touring Hunterville juniors arrived in a fleet of cars filled with parents, supporters and coaches just as the heavens opened and heavy rain was falling on Wembley Park.

The kids were excited with both the city and country teams chattering non-stop about the upcoming clash. For the kids the rain was an added bonus. For the parents it was a nightmare that most gladly endured for the the sake of their children.

Attacking the sidelines armed with umbrellas, the parents and supporters watched as kickoffs were taken on various fields mapped out especially to accommodate the littlies. In the heavy rain it was almost like watching grown-ups attempting to keep 70-odd corks under water at once.

McIntyre said the country kids "absolutely loved it" and couldn't stop talking about it on the way home.

"They were absolutely exhausted, but they loved it - the trip away, the games and even the rain," McIntyre said.

"It didn't even matter if they were losing. Young kids know when the other teams score a goal and often lose interest in the game, but on this occasion it didn't seem to matter.

"For us grown-ups the scoreline isn't important. It's about giving the kids access to a sport so they can find their thing. For me it can be any sport, just as long as they have access to it and thanks to the City club we have someone else to play apart from just ourselves. We look forward to returning the favour on June 7 and we are already in talks with Churton School in Whanganui. They are keen to arrange matches too and I understand Huntley School (Marton) may also be interested," McIntyre said.

Francis said the City kids also enjoyed the exchange.

"They had a blast, which was the idea of the entire exercise. I coach three junior teams for City and split them up to match up with the teams the visitors brought down. It couldn't have happened without the support from parents and stand-in coaches on the day," Francis said echoing a sentiment felt by McIntyre.