North Canterbury News: August 19, 2021
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NEWS<br />
16 The <strong>North</strong> <strong>Canterbury</strong> <strong>News</strong>, <strong>August</strong> <strong>19</strong>, <strong>2021</strong><br />
Students shape future of sport<br />
By DAVID HILL<br />
Two Rangiora High School pupils<br />
are helping to shape New Zealand’s<br />
future Olympians.<br />
JadeKruger and Paris Karaka<br />
are serving on national sports<br />
committees to sharethe viewsof<br />
young people participating in sport.<br />
Bothare highachieving sports<br />
people in their own right,with Paris<br />
having been selected for the New<br />
Zealand under18 women’s touch<br />
squad, the <strong>Canterbury</strong>women’s<br />
senior netballteam and also plays<br />
volleyball.<br />
Jadeplays football, participates<br />
in athletics, is keen to playrugby<br />
sevens and her goal is to represent<br />
New Zealand in the 100 metre and<br />
200 metresprints.<br />
Paris, who is in year 12, is one of<br />
just13pupils serving on the<br />
inaugural School SportNew<br />
Zealand Student Athlete<br />
Commission(SAC)and will be<br />
attendinganationalsports<br />
conference in Rotoruanext month<br />
as part of her role.<br />
‘‘Our focus is to make sports<br />
better andtoencourage more<br />
participation.’’<br />
Ayear 13 pupil, Jade is serving on<br />
the New ZealandSportCoaching<br />
Advisory Committee, which<br />
includes justtwo secondary school<br />
students fromaround the country to<br />
suggestimprovements for coaches.<br />
‘‘Wecontributetoshapingthe<br />
directionofcoaching, identifying<br />
problems and finding solutions.’’<br />
Among the topicsdiscussed are<br />
how to attract more young peopleto<br />
playsport, the pressuresonyoung<br />
sports people and ‘‘Balance is<br />
Better’’.<br />
‘‘Balance is Better’’isanew<br />
Young leaders ... Rangiora High School pupils Jade Kruger (left) and Paris<br />
Karaka are keen to encourage more young people to participate in sport.<br />
PHOTO: DAVID HILL<br />
coaching programme gaining<br />
traction in secondary schools<br />
aroundthe country, which<br />
encourages cultural changeand<br />
promotes moreyouth participation<br />
in sport, Jade says.<br />
‘‘Balance is Betterisused alot<br />
more in schools in the <strong>North</strong> Island<br />
and they’vefound they have so<br />
many more kids participation<br />
because it’s more fun.<br />
‘‘One school stopped playing<br />
15aside rugby and changed to<br />
sevensand foundthey had more<br />
kids participating becausethey all<br />
get to pass the ballinagame, so it’s<br />
more fun and they’restill<br />
developing the skills.’’<br />
Many young people just want to<br />
play with theirfriends, butasthey<br />
get older and move up the ranks the<br />
pressurescan become more<br />
intense,Paris says.<br />
‘‘I think that’s why lotsofyoung<br />
people drop out, because it gets so<br />
seriousand you have other<br />
priorities, like an after school job<br />
and NCEA.<br />
‘‘Thecommitmentisahuge<br />
thing.’’<br />
Part of the challengeisthe<br />
different expectations between<br />
coaches and players from different<br />
generations andupbringings.<br />
One of thepressures for Paris is<br />
she knows she needs to focus on one<br />
sportifshe wants to progress to the<br />
top level.<br />
Jade hopes to study psychology<br />
and sportsscience next year, while<br />
Parisisinterested in joining the<br />
army or the police.<br />
Greenlights, by Matthew<br />
McConaughey<br />
From the Academy Award winning<br />
actor, an unconventional memoir<br />
filled withraucous stories, outlaw<br />
wisdom, and lessons learnedthe<br />
hard way aboutliving with greater<br />
satisfaction.<br />
Stucktogether, by SarahTuck<br />
SarahTuck is<br />
back with a<br />
fresh<br />
collection of<br />
recipes to<br />
impress your<br />
guestsatdinner parties. Dishes<br />
designed to share with loved ones, you<br />
will fall in love with these imaginative<br />
and scrumptiousplates.<br />
Gardening withdroughtfriendly plants,<br />
by Tony Hall<br />
This is the essentialguide to the plants suited to our changing<br />
climate of warmer,driersummers, written by Kew expert Tony<br />
Hall.<br />
Findout more about recent additions to the library collection<br />
by going to the librarycatalogue at waimakariri.kotui.org.nz or<br />
hurunui.kotui.org.nz or contact your local library.<br />
Heading for the beach ... Participants head to the beach in the<br />
inaugural Art Hike at Tuhaitara Coastal Park on Sunday.<br />
PHOTO: ADELE JACKSON
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