Sport Tasman delivers mana-enhancing projects for rangatahi across Te Tau Ihu and Kaikōura
Physical activity offers many benefits for young people, but rangatahi aren’t as active as they used to be.
Te Tau Ihu-based Sport Tasman aims to change all that by delivering mana-enhancing projects in the region to give young people a voice in programme delivery and alignment with their values and interests.
According to ‘Active NZ: Changes in Participation’, a Sport New Zealand report, weekly participation for youth aged 12-17 decreased by 3% from 2021 to 2022 and 6% from pre-COVID levels.
The decline in participation is prominent among females aged 12-14, while interest and enjoyment levels among rangatahi are diminishing across the board. In 2022, the number of youth who said they enjoy playing sports reached an all-time low (79%).
Sport Tasman is an organisation working hard to remove barriers and provide equitable opportunities for rangatahi to participate in sport and active recreation across Te Tau Ihu and Kaikōura through its unique Regional Active Recreation Advisors (RARA) projects.
They have embarked on a three-year strategic partnership with Rātā Foundation and Sport New Zealand Ihi Aotearoa, designed to support targeted populations of rangatahi - including Māori, Pasifika, kōhine (teenage girls) and former refugees in the Nelson, Tasman, Kaikōura, and Marlborough regions - to increase engagement and wellbeing and remove barriers that make participation challenging for young people.
Sport Tasman’s General Manager of Community Outcomes Lesley McIntosh says existing barriers to participation include time, cost, transport, and general awareness of the recreation programmes available.
“There is also a lack of youth input into the programmes being offered and little alignment with their values or interests,” Lesley says.
“There is limited understanding about how active recreation can be utilised as a conduit for enhancing mana, and community, whānau, culture, environment and wellbeing connections.”
Sport Tasman provides a holistic programme to address barriers by encouraging rangatahi to connect with Māori culture and the natural environment.
“We base our activity around Te Whare Tapa Whā, which is the four pillars of wellbeing, where active recreation isn’t the be-all and end-all but adds value to existing programmes or enhances the wellbeing and mana of rangatahi,” says Lesley.
“We don’t offer active recreation in isolation. We aim to link it with the youths’ values, whether that be around the environment or Māori culture.
“When you bring in those values, you’re starting to break down some barriers that not only enable them but encourage rangatahi to participate.”
Sport Tasman hopes the project will encourage other community organisations to collaborate on the needs of rangatahi and incorporate active recreation in their initiatives. It also works to co-design programmes to ensure rangatahi can see themselves reflected in the project and their unique needs are met.
In year one of the project, 75% of the opportunities provided were co-designed alongside rangatahi, and Sport Tasman has collaborated with 49 organisations, over half of whom are showing increased capability to engage rangatahi through insights, co-design and adopting principles informed by a Te Ao Māori world-view.
“Sport Tasman has embraced the fact that not all young people enjoy, or want to participate in, competitive sport,” says Sport New Zealand Ihi Aotearoa Active Recreation Lead Fran McEwen.
“There is a way of being active that works for every young person, and seeing them tramping, dancing or stand-up paddleboarding in a wonderful part of Aotearoa is what it’s all about.
“Sport Tasman understands the intrinsic connection to wellbeing, and their approach to co-design recreation opportunities with young people and active recreation providers in their region is valuable.”
Rātā Foundation Chief Executive Leighton Evans says there is strong alignment between the RARA Project and Rātā Foundation’s focus on removing barriers to participation.
“We want more people to be active, particularly our young people,” Leighton says. “The work Sport Tasman is doing to support equitable opportunities for rangatahi and provide learning opportunities in other regions is important.
“Evidence shows rangatahi, including Māori, Pasifika, refugees, and teenage girls, are most at risk of disengaging with sport and active recreation. The partnership advocates for better alignment across the youth and active recreation sector and demonstrates what success looks like in the co-design process.
“It also helps to strengthen the wider youth and active recreation sector to help them deliver effectively to rangatahi and ensure the voices of our young people are heard.”