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Speaker 1: You're listening to the Weekend Sport podcast with Jason Vine

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Speaker 1: from newstalk ZEDB.

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Speaker 2: Last hour, let's move to access of a slightly different kind.

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Speaker 2: A new story emerged this week than a nine year

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Speaker 2: old Auckland boy has been told he can no longer

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Speaker 2: play age grade rugby with his friends because he is

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Speaker 2: over the weight limit. Now, this boy is a year

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Speaker 2: four student. He was one of one hundred and six

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Speaker 2: students who applied for a weight dispensation. This is in

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Speaker 2: the county's Manico Rugby Football Union club competition. He was

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Speaker 2: denied that dispensation and has opted out of playing any

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Speaker 2: winter sport at all this year. Now, the union says

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Speaker 2: these structures are in place to ensure player safety and

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Speaker 2: fairness in competition, which I totally get. But here's the

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Speaker 2: case of a young boy who wants to play sport

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Speaker 2: and there is a boar in the way of him

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Speaker 2: doing so. Andy Rodgers is Sport New Zealand's national sport

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Speaker 2: Development consultants and he joins us. Now, Andy, thanks for

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Speaker 2: taking the time. I know you can't comment on this

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Speaker 2: specific case, but this is the incident which has compelled

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Speaker 2: the conversation, so perhaps I can start by asking you

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Speaker 2: for your general reaction to this news that a barrier

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Speaker 2: has been placed in the way of a child who

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Speaker 2: just wants to play sport with his friends.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, as you say, it a little hard without more

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Speaker 3: of the background context, difficult to comment on the specifics

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Speaker 3: of the story, but what I can say first and foremost,

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Speaker 3: I feel pretty sorry for the young man caught in

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Speaker 3: the middle of it. And at Sport in New Zealand,

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Speaker 3: we believe, you know, really strongly that every young person

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Speaker 3: should have the opportunity to enjoy and benefit that they

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Speaker 3: get from being active. It's really important that we work

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Speaker 3: as a sector, you know, to remove barriers and not

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Speaker 3: create them, especially for young people. And our role as

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Speaker 3: administrators is to prove opportunities where all young people are welcomed.

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Speaker 3: And that's whether they're chasing their high performance dreams or

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Speaker 3: just want to have fun, get fit and socialized. So

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Speaker 3: one exciting piece we're just released, actually in partnership with

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Speaker 3: the Sports Sector, is a tool that I encourage people

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Speaker 3: to jump on our website and have a look at.

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Speaker 3: It's called the Sport Pathway Framework and it really is

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Speaker 3: a tool to encourage conversations and help people find a

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Speaker 3: place where everyone can fit and support their motivations and

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Speaker 3: their aspirations to fulfill their potential at whatever level that

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Speaker 3: might be fantastic.

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Speaker 2: Well, I'll have to check that out. So, in terms

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Speaker 2: of barriers to kids in particular participating in sport, what

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Speaker 2: are the main ones? We've got one here, which is

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Speaker 2: I guess a specific example around around weight. And I

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Speaker 2: understand the safety argument. I think we can all understand that,

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Speaker 2: But what are some of the other barriers to kids

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Speaker 2: participating in sport in general terms?

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Speaker 3: Yeah, it's really good fun, Jason, and something that we

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Speaker 3: ponder on quite often. Look, we're told by young people

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Speaker 3: and their families people now are living really busy lives,

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Speaker 3: so busy schedules have a major impact. The cost involved

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Speaker 3: transport is a massive one. And if you think about

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Speaker 3: we're on based up in Auckland, getting across Auckland on

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Speaker 3: a busy afternoon, getting home from work on a busy evening,

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Speaker 3: isn't it. So transports a big one. Access to gear,

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Speaker 3: and we know for girls there's a couple of additional

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Speaker 3: ones that come through quite strongly, confidence in fear of

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Speaker 3: being judged to big factors, and then we know even

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Speaker 3: more so for disabled people, they face even more challenges.

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Speaker 3: So we know these issues are real, and that's why

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Speaker 3: we're working really hard as a system to break through

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Speaker 3: and be more inclusive and be more flexible with offerings

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Speaker 3: and take a much more community led approach to the

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Speaker 3: way we're rolling this out because communities know their people

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Speaker 3: generally and they know how to adapt and provide offerings

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Speaker 3: for them.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, and some things you can't impact. I mean, you

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Speaker 2: can't change Auckland's traffic system, for example. That's something that

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Speaker 2: I think is even beyond Sport, New Zealand, or beyond

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Speaker 2: any of us really. But are there some of the

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Speaker 2: things you picked up on there that that you are

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Speaker 2: doing specific work on that can be more readily removed

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Speaker 2: as barriers.

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Speaker 3: Yeah? Absolutely, you're right. We can't change the weather, right

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Speaker 3: and we can't change the transport at the moment in Auckland,

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Speaker 3: although putting a train in would be nice. However, Yeah,

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Speaker 3: there are, and that's why I referenced community led local solutions.

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Speaker 3: We're actually seeing some great response in some of the

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Speaker 3: metropolitan areas where local organizations are getting together and providing

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Speaker 3: more opportunities at a local level. You know, not everyone

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Speaker 3: has aspirations to go on to great things and have

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Speaker 3: an overly competit of structure, and we're seeing a real

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Speaker 3: uptake and more, I guess close to home, locally led

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Speaker 3: offerings where people can enjoy the value of sport without

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Speaker 3: having to travel an hour and a half each way

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Speaker 3: in busy schedules.

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Speaker 2: Are you able to in any way measure the positive

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Speaker 2: impact of physical activity and exercise on young people?

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Speaker 3: Yeah, that is a great question. We know that it's

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Speaker 3: hugely important, and we're now collecting more and more evidence

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Speaker 3: to support that. We know that when young people are active,

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Speaker 3: not only do they build friendships for life, they grow confidence.

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Speaker 3: It supports mental well being as well. We know that

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Speaker 3: young people are happier when they're engaged in physical activity.

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Speaker 3: So we've recently actually published a report called Active Minds,

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Speaker 3: Active Bodies, and the report confirms that those kids that

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Speaker 3: are involved in sport and being physically active are actually

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Speaker 3: better in school, the better in life. And that's why

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Speaker 3: through sport, we believe every child deserves that. So we

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Speaker 3: need to work really hard to break those barriers down

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Speaker 3: to open up offerings for everyone.

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Speaker 2: Are more or fewer children playing organized sport now than

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Speaker 2: in the past.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, well, obviously we had that rather unfortunate incident of COVID,

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Speaker 3: but we are seeing jason a pretty steady recovery post COVID,

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Speaker 3: especially in school sport, and we know that numbers have

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Speaker 3: grown over the last three years. Several of our large

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Speaker 3: sports are showing encouraging increases in their membership as well,

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Speaker 3: which is clearly incredibly positive. And there's certainly a growing

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Speaker 3: interest in flexible, more informal ways to just to I

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Speaker 3: gees activating sport.

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Speaker 2: What sort of things are you talking about there.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, Look, some of our sports, the sports that are

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Speaker 3: really adapting, being more inclusive and taking that community approach,

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Speaker 3: are seeing strong growth. So we've got initiatives up and

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Speaker 3: down the country. Examples Hopes and Maria's which is a

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Speaker 3: collaboration and partnership with civil organizations including New Zealand Basketball,

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Speaker 3: Local EWE, Maldi Basketball that are putting hoops and giving

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Speaker 3: access to young people. In Maria's Rugby League have a

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Speaker 3: program called Sister Rise which is addressing more offerings and

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Speaker 3: opportunities for young girls and female coaches that are having

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Speaker 3: tremendous success and talking to Rugby League the other day

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Speaker 3: that they've got about a sixty percent increase in young

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Speaker 3: women participating in that program. And additionally, we're seeing programs

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Speaker 3: being more inclusive and encouraging people from all walks of

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Speaker 3: life to get involved in sport and reap the benefits.

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Speaker 3: Since rugby is an initiative that's being developed by occupational

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Speaker 3: therapists to fit the needs and learning pace of players,

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Speaker 3: so it looks to support you know, players with disabilities,

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Speaker 3: that are neurodiverse, that have sensory needs. And we're seeing

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Speaker 3: these programs roll out up and down the country, so

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Speaker 3: they're not just growing participation, they're building belonging and really

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Speaker 3: breaking down societal barriers as well.

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Speaker 2: This might be outside the scope of your brief, Andy,

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Speaker 2: but do you think that kids sport is best administered

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Speaker 2: by schools or by clubs?

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Speaker 3: That's a great question, and I think we're really blessed

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Speaker 3: in this country to have a system where you're able

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Speaker 3: to access sport in both. So I think that my

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Speaker 3: answer would be I think they player both play a

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Speaker 3: really important role. The key here is that not one's

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Speaker 3: better than the other. It's about how they work together

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Speaker 3: to meet the needs of all participants, artless of the setting.

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Speaker 3: You know, I think the key here is that we

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Speaker 3: want to offer quality experiences and we continue to put

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Speaker 3: the needs of young people first, you know, and that means,

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Speaker 3: as I've said previously, offering a range of opportunities that

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Speaker 3: match the motivations of the children. So we need to

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Speaker 3: fit into young people's lives, not young people fit into

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Speaker 3: our sports systems.

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Speaker 2: And something that always happens with kids sporters that you know,

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Speaker 2: a young boy or girl shows promise at an early

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Speaker 2: age and everybody says, wow, there's the next you know,

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Speaker 2: Dan Carter, you know's there's the next Porsche Woodman Wickliffe,

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Speaker 2: just to use a couple of rugby examples, and yet

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Speaker 2: these children are eight nineteen years old. Is balances better?

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Speaker 2: You know, children playing a lot of different sports. Still

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Speaker 2: a key plank to your philosophy on kids exercise and sport.

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Speaker 3: Yeah. Absolutely, And I happen to know you're a big

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Speaker 3: fan of the balance is better approach, Jason, so I'm

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Speaker 3: glad you brought that one up. Yeah. Absolutely, balance is better.

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Speaker 3: It is more than just the talent piece though, it's

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Speaker 3: about it's our approach to use sport New Zone and

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Speaker 3: it's ensuring that we put the needs of young people first,

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Speaker 3: So what we say, it's about balancing sport with life,

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Speaker 3: you know. So it's ensuring that we keep the fun element,

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Speaker 3: but we also keep the development element, and that we

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Speaker 3: balance adults expectations with what kids actually want. So when

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Speaker 3: we get that balance right, we see that outcomes for

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Speaker 3: everyone involved, and we say that balance is better. It's

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Speaker 3: not just the philosophy, it's a practical approach and it's

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Speaker 3: now backed by strong evidence and it's really getting embraced

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Speaker 3: by the sector. And we know that those organizations that

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Speaker 3: are picking it up and using it and adopting their

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Speaker 3: systems are seeing some significant improvements in the quality of

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Speaker 3: the experiences that young people are achieving. Young people are

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Speaker 3: getting better, they're having more fun, and they're staying in

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Speaker 3: for longer.

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Speaker 2: Very interesting, very very interesting thoughts the afternoon. Andy, thank

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Speaker 2: you so much for taking the time to join us.

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Speaker 2: And know our listeners we'll have a lot of feedback

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Speaker 2: so we'll get to them. But thank you for your

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Speaker 2: time this afternoon.

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Speaker 3: No promadell, thanks for having me on the show.

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Speaker 2: Jason, No, thank you for joining us. Andy. Andy Rogers

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Speaker 2: Sport New Zealand's National Development National sport development consultant.

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Speaker 1: There For more from Weekend Sport with Jason Fine, listen

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Speaker 1: live to News Talk set B weekends from midday, or

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