Nau mai, haere mai, talofa lava, malo e lelei, bula vinaka, kia orana, warm greetings

This week has been summer tournament week - we have had students across the country performing and representing our Kura and Whanau all week. Alongside the culmination of summer tournaments, we enter the trial and team selection phase of our major winter codes. This week I have been reflecting on the question 'why do we have our young men participate in sport?'

While this seems like a simple question, it is complex and we would get different answers depending on the age we may ask. For our young people, it is often about fulfilling future dreams or a way to make friends and have fun. For our adults - teachers, coaches and parents - I believe it should be about ensuring our young men feel confident enough to continue with sports once they leave school. This should be our greatest measure, participation beyond school.

Once students leave school and the support of a tight knit community, they are often left with an empty feeling as they navigate new communities and try to find their place in the world. Sport can play an important role in a new community and a new sense of belonging. This is, after all, the historic backbone of New Zealand society. We are a country built on community activities and sports made of committees and families supporting each other. Sports clubs are often a place where social hierarchies don’t exist, they are a place where people come together in fellowship to support each other.

I am, at times, concerned that this backbone is being eroded in sport, due to the dreams and aspirations of professionalism in our young people overtaking the real win in sports. The real wins are in our young people learning to deal with disappointment, success, time management, commitment, teamwork, and improvement, to name just a few.

It is important to have dreams and aspirations, but it is more important that these outcomes are viewed alongside the far greater benefits of sport. As parents and caregivers, it is our role to play the “long game” - support our Rangitahi with their dreams but see all experiences, both positive and negative, as the true learning opportunities for the more important game of life.

A massive congratulations to our Polyfest group on a fantastic performance last Saturday - we were all very proud of our young men.

Another huge congratulations to all of our students representing us during summer tournament week, all results and updates are contained in this newsletter.