Annual Report 2018

The 2017 Sport NZ sponsored Active NZ Survey
highlighted participation in physical activity has been
on the decline for a number of years and that identified
barriers to participation still exist. A summary of findings
show that young people are more likely to participate
in physical activity for fun; and adults for physical
wellbeing. Self-motivation and lack of energy are real
barriers to participation for those aged 18-49 year olds.
Irrespective of what levels of participation already take
place, 64% of young people and 74% of adults want to
increase their participation in physical activity. These are
national results.
The Minister of Sport, Grant Robertson, outlined his
current priorities for the sport and recreation sector with
the following focus:
• Growing participation for girls and women, including
their ability to pursue professional sporting careers;
• Improving the overall rates and quality of
participation in sport and recreation by low
participating populations;
• Strengthening the long-term opportunities for New
Zealanders with disabilities;
• Addressing the drop off in young people’s
participation in sport and physical activity once
they leave school.
His priorities segue neatly with what we have been
funded to do. In particular, to increase participation in
physical activity within our female population (10-18
year olds); our Asian, Maori and Samoan communities;
and our low socio economic communities.
We acknowledge that to enable increased participation
our community “system” requires strengthening and
enhancing. To that end we are also funded to focus on
enhancing quality coaching within the community;
enhancing the community’s capability of delivery and
finding more spaces and places for participants to play
and recreate in. Again those priorities align with the Sport
NZ Community Sport strategy and the implementation
of our co-created (Aktive, Sport Waitakere, Harbour
Sport, CLM Community Sport and ourselves) response
“The Auckland Approach to Community Sport” which is
to increase physical activity in Auckland.
Our Health and Wellness programmes continue to play a
significant role in our community work. We are extremely
proud of the efforts of our Health and Wellness team who
deliver the ADHB and CMDHB Green Prescription and
Active Families contracts to our local communities. Their
achievements and successes are captured elsewhere
within this annual report. The relationship between our
two Health Boards continues to be very strong and we
remain committed to and supportive of each other.
So, in summary, we have some exciting challenges in
front of us to address many issues and while change is
on the uptake, to make a significant impact we need to
comprehend our work takes time. Being in the middle
of a four-five year funding cycle we trust that this year’s
annual report clearly illustrates the milestones and
successes that we have achieved thus far; along with the
learnings we have encountered on the way.
We are indebted to our volunteer Board of Trustees. They
met on 9 occasions throughout the last financial year
and their stewardship and guidance was welcomed by
our management team.
Likewise, we owe a huge thanks to our committed and
talented staff. They go out of their way to deliver a high
quality service to our communities. Without doubt we
are proud of the fact that in our 2018 Stakeholder Survey
results nine out of ten stakeholders have confidence in
Sport Auckland’s leadership. That is a reflection of each
and every individual’s valued contribution to their work.
The stakeholder relationships they have built within
their community is sincerely appreciated.
We thank all of our stakeholders and community for
placing such a high element of trust in us, as one of many
partners in the region who are aiming to make Auckland
the most active city in the world; and in our efforts to
inspire our communities to live healthy active lifestyles.
We hope you enjoy the read,
Andrew Williams, Chair, Sport Auckland
Mike Elliott, CEO, Sport Auckland
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Annual report
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