4 July 2008

Getting kids back into sport

“For most Kiwis playing and participating in sport is an important part of growing up,” says Chris Auchinvole, National List MP.   “Whether it’s rugby, cricket, netball or a host of other sports, getting involved teaches our kids a raft of invaluable skills. 

“The results in terms of healthier, fitter people, who are less of a cost on our health system, are obvious. Less visible is the improvement in our attitudes, our spirit, and our culture that an increased engagement in sport can bring. Getting out and playing a game of soccer or cricket means that our kids are learning about teamwork and co-operation, about playing fair and about winning and losing.

“For kids with difficult home lives, sport gives them something constructive to do to fill the void they have in their spare time. Otherwise, the temptation is to fill it by hanging around the streets, drifting into drugs and getting into trouble.

“For that reason alone, a greater investment in getting young people playing sport is justified.

“The Grey District, Buller and Tasman councils and ratepayers all need to be congratulated for the sports and swimming complexes they are each building in Greymouth, Westport, Murchison and Saxton Field.  Hopefully, that will arrest the present trend of decline in kids’ participation in sport.

“One in three of our young people are obese or overweight and more than a third of them are inactive. I talk to a lot of parents who are genuinely worried that their child is, or might end up, in one of those unhealthy categories.

“Labour’s response to this emerging and real problem has been bureaucratic, time-consuming, highly confusing and generally ineffective.

“They have introduced endless and expensive overlapping programmes and initiatives. It’s hard to understand why we need at least eight different government programmes encouraging people to eat healthier and exercise more.

“Another striking thing under Labour is how little of the budgeted millions actually flows through the bureaucracy and into schools and community organisations.

“For example, almost a third of Sport and Recreation New Zealand’s money - $35 million – never makes it outside the Wellington head office.  This year, Sparc will spend $5.5 million on its website, and between 2006 and 2010 it has budgeted $11.5 million for the website.

“National will take a far more practical approach to funding sports by focusing government sporting dollars where they will make a difference – at the front line in schools and sports clubs.

“We will also, over time, give schools additional resources to ensure more students can take part in extra-curricula organised sport. We will do this by carefully reprioritising government funds currently dedicated to a host of bureaucratic anti-obesity campaigns.

“Unlike Labour, we won’t make schools apply to multiple funds and fill in copious forms to access these resources.  And we won’t tell them how best to spend the money.

“We will, instead, give them sports funding to use as they see fit – be it buying equipment and uniforms, hiring sports co-ordinators, or paying for service contracts with local sports clubs.  We will simply ask schools to ensure that any extra dollars we give result in more students actually taking part in organised sport.

“National’s priorities are clear – more sports coaches and equipment, and fewer advisors and reports.

“We’re confident that this approach will ensure that more Kiwi kids take part in sport. And that is something we think all Kiwis will support.