 |
Nick Chambers Sport Bay of Plenty |
Sport Bay of Plenty's GO4it programme is now coming to the end of its second year. The GO4it programme is a comprehensive skills programme that aims to increase the fundamental skills in our children that will provide the foundations to develop a lifelong love of sport and recreation.
GO4it was developed and introduced in 2011 after the Kiwisport community consultation ranked fundamental skill development as a top priority.
GO4it has a holistic approach to developing skills in our children that will serve as the building blocks to ensure they are suitably skilled to enjoy and participate in sport and recreation for life.
Fundamental skills need to be developed between the ages of 5-10 years. This crucial window of development ensures that basic skills are engrained in the motor movements of our children.
This enables people to apply and transfer these skills into sport specific situations as they age and start to specialise in their chosen sports.
GO4it is unique in its approach, working with over 40 local regional sport organisations to deliver fundamental skill development, all working towards one common goal.
GO4it is a programme that works with local sporting organisations to deliver skills in areas such as swimming, biking, traditional Maori games, leadership, running, jumping, kicking, throwing, catching, passing and striking.
These skills are delivered through expert coaches that are provided by the local regional and national sporting organisations.
In 2011 GO4it was delivered to all students from year 0-6 in 22 schools around the Bay of Plenty region.
2012 saw significant growth in the Western Bay of Plenty thanks to the generosity of financial support from Tauranga Energy Consumer Trust, increasing the Bay-wide school number to 32.
Welcome Bay School principal Nik House has been part of the programme since its birth:
'For the last two years Welcome Bay School has been fortunate to have had the Go4it team delivering high quality physical education opportunities with a strong focus on developing the skill of our children.
'This is not only fantastic development for our tamariki, but also provides great opportunities for our staff to develop their core understandings regarding physical skill development”
Planning for 2013 is well underway and GO4it aims to continue its work in the current 32 schools to ensure that schools are able to sustain this skill delivery independently in the future.
If you wish to know more about the GO4it programme or how to get involved go to www.sportbop.co.nz/go4it
