For the past 15 weeks Ignite has been running after school coaching alongside BGI (The Wellington Boys’ and Girls’ Insitute) as a part of the Journeys programme. This is a partnership with the Walter Nash Centre and the Ministry of Youth Development. It is a skills based group-mentoring programme aimed at teenagers from the communities around the Walter Nash Centre in Taita.
Young people are given the opportunities to master a particular skill over the course of a year and work towards projects and events to showcase their new skills to their whānau and wider community.
Journeys is designed to increase resilience, confidence and self-esteem in young people by allowing them a chance to develop team work, leadership and social skills in a fun and safe environment.
BGI works alongside various youth workers and tutors to provide opportunities for young people in areas such as:
Ignite was really excited to be invited to be a part of the sport component. We chose to run a coaching programme around a sport called Spikeball that we recently started using. Here’s a brief video about it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l9UL6P5IsxY (external link)
Each Tuesday after school we have been running coaching, skills and drills and the opportunities for young people to play competitively.
We have had over 80 young people take part, ranging in age from year 6 to year 13. With a good core group of them choosing to come along regularly. This core group have really progressed and developed into good Spikeball players.
Last week we gave them the opportunity to showcase the skills they have learnt by setting up a tournament. The winner of each category came from our core group!
Spikeball USA very kindly sponsored some sets and t-shirts to give away as prizes in the categories of best male and female high school and intermediate students. BGI also bought trophies and spot prizes.
We will be continuing the programme through to the end of this term and are hoping to continue in 2018.
See below for some photos from the event.
