Young people in Mid Canterbury have had more opportunities to play, get active and connect with each other and their community thanks to two new initiatives led by the Ashburton YMCA with support from Sport Canterbury’s Mid Canterbury-based Regional Lead, Jan Cochrane. 

The pilots have been funded by Sport New Zealand’s Tū Manawa Active Aotearoa fund which has allowed these concepts to become a reality and are a great follow on from some previous pilots YMCA have facilitated alongside Sport Canterbury.

YMCA South and Mid Canterbury is a youth and community development organisation, that supports more than 6000 young people per annon. They build quality relationships with young people, applying a consistent strengths-based approach to walking alongside them, creating a sense of belonging and connectedness.  

The first of these initiatives are community pop-up sessions called Y-Community Pop-Ups which began in term one and will continue for the remainder of the year with a focus on tamariki and rangatahi led play.

These after school pop-ups are held during term time from 3-5pm at Friedlander Park, Hampstead and the Ashburton Domain. Young people are invited to head along with their whānau to have a go with a range of different sports, activities and play equipment including connect four, volleyball, tug of war, zorb balls and other play equipment for child-led play.

“These pop-ups activate regular and consistent youth friendly play, active recreation, and sport opportunities for young people within Ashburton. They were initially facilitated and supported by the YMCA but have been developed and influenced over time to be led by tamariki and rangatahi living within the Ashburton community.

“YMCA co-ordinate, coach, mentor, and support tamariki and rangatahi within their schools and communities to ‘step-up’ and activate others to become involved,” adds Cochrane.

Y-Community Pop-Ups provide the opportunity to target specific groups and priority populations, ensuring young people are enticed not only to get involved and participate, but to lead and co-ordinate them and have their mates select activities, which ensures the full-years’ activities evolve month to month.

The pop-ups have seen great success not only by the development of the participant-led activities but with an average of 43 individuals at each session.

Feedback from parents has been overwhelmingly positive, with parents making comments such as:

“What the YMCA is doing in after school pop-up activities (particularly in Hampstead) is absolutely amazing. Children/young people are getting to be involved in physical activity, across a diverse mix of people after school, as opposed to sitting watching tv, on devices or in front of a computer screen.”

The second initiative has been designed specifically for rangatahi wahine in the Mid Canterbury community to provide them with the opportunity to experience quality physical activity in a comfortable and safe environment where they can be themselves and enjoy the company of their peers.

The pilot, called Y- Active is targeted at young women and girls aged 16 to 24, working with a group of identified pasifika and māori young women attending Ashburton College. 

As part of this programme the girls were given three individual personal training gym programmes that could be carried out over eight weeks. 

The sessions have been designed to engage these rangatahi in a gym-based programme held at the EA Networks Centre Gym and were facilitated by a fully trained and employed personal trainer. The personal trainer has been supported by one of the YMCA’s female facilitators in order to create a positive environment where the wahine can gain confidence in themselves, understand the benefits of exercising regularly, learn how to correctly utilise gym equipment and challenge their own physical capabilities.  

Within the specialised programme, the young people are introduced to the gym environment, a place many had not stepped foot in before. This new environment gives the girls the opportunity to experience the varying exercises and challenges associated with participating in a personal training regime.  

Different aspects have been built into the sessions in order to provide a well-rounded programme that develops the individual’s overall confidence and ability within the gym environment.

The programme incorporates:
• Confidence building 
• Personal challenges in the gym environment, with support from a personal trainer and
  YMCA facilitator
• Learning how the body moves and best exercises for different target areas
• The importance of warming up and cooling down after exercise
• How exercise can support mental wellbeing and stress
• How the right nutrition can support exercise, health and wellbeing 

“The outcome for this group has shown great results showing that the wahine`s participation has increased their independence and confidence in their ability to start/continue their personal physical and wellbeing journey in or outside of the gym environment,” says Jan Cochrane.

Find out more about Sport New Zealand’s Tū Manawa Active Aotearoa - Click here 

Article added: Tuesday 10 August 2021