The possibility of a sporting career is being presented to primary aged children at the Future Champions event being held at Mount Maunganui this week.

Aspiring young athletes across 12 sporting codes are being shown how to campaign, motivate and train their way through school sport and beyond.

Steamer Lance MacDonald shows Josiah Albert, 10, from Greenpark School, some tackling techniques.

They are hearing from successful Bay athletes such as Football Ferns player Olivia Chance and current Black Cap cricketer Tauranga Boys' College old boy Kane Williamson.

'Olivia talks about her pathway from being a four year old starting football right through to being a seventh former in the first XI, and in the New Zealand women's football team,” says Sport BOP primary school coordinator Vicki Semple.

'She talks about goal setting, sacrifices, commitment to training, what it's like to be a representative sports person.

Footballer Simon Mead goes through some drills.

'It's not just about what you do on the sports field, it's about all the other things you do as well.

'It's about making the right choices, and making a commitment to bettering themselves.”

But there is a lot of practical coaching from the coach force BOP team across the 12 codes, giving pointers to young sports people who have already successfully competed for a place in the popular event.

First pick is by the schools, which send the selected sports players home with the applications.

'They write down their goals etcetera and hand it back, and we pass it to coaches of the codes who select 20 children per code per day,” says Vicki.

'Some schools use it as activity, and talk about goal setting and working towards goals.”

Future Champions has been running three years and was this year sponsored by Western Bay Energy for Education Trust and TrustPower.

Also coaching at the event are BOP Magic netballers Jodi Tod and Arahi Wall.

The 12 codes from which children were invited are: basketball, cricket, football, hockey, netball, rugby, rugby league, squash, tennis, triathlon, volleyball and waterpolo.