Read below to find out why this was a cracker of a year.
Kia ora Koutou katoa,
This has been another eventful year for Papakura Athletic and Harrier Club ( PAHC) with a number of work streams completed from our Strategic Plan. We would like to welcome PAHC Life Member and Patron Bruce Pulman and Lara Camage from Camage Chartered Accountants on to our team.
It was our pleasure also to induct one Life Member Rex Allen, a great stalwart and servant of athletics in our community. In the recent New Year Honours Alison Brearley was awarded a QSM for services to athletics and education, thoroughly deserved and perfect recognition for her contributions over many years to both the Manurewa and Papakura Community.
PAHC relationship with the Papakura area has strengthened new partnerships with the Papakura Local Board, NZ Police, Athletics NZ, Parafed,the Papakura Marae, E Tū Whanau, Papakura High School, Touch NZ, Northern Stars Netball, Bunnings, Papakura Rugby & Football Club, Counties Manukau Sport, Bruce Pulman Park, CLM, John Walker Find Your Field of dreams, New World Papakura and the Alterno Foundation. Thank you to Tony Tumai for helping to create these networks - namely Kura Connect.
Our committee grew significantly to over 20 members and we successfully set up a Friends of the Committee group with over x30 members that came together to offer help, support and bring a specific skill set to the table. Thank you to you all.
Our Clubrooms had a significant transformation with two working bees. Bunnings provided support by repainting and overhauling our changing rooms to the value of $3000. The Alterno Foundation donated $3000 to replace a hot water cylinder to allow us to have hot water for the first time in many years and Papakura Flooring Xtra have donated $5000 of brand new carpet tiles.
We successfully held numerous fundraising events such as the David Niethe Mental Performance night , The Northern Stars Netball/ Jenny- May Clarkson Q & A with club dinners, raffles and raised over $10,000.
Our second funding application was successful to get the balance of the photo timer to the value of $30,000 and we won another grant for a further $13,000 for new equipment and an AV system from Grass Roots. Due to the kind financial support of the Alterno Foundation we also managed to purchase new furniture for our club room.
Our team overhauled and redesigned our website and internal communication system SLACK where we can can now store and centralise data and we also moved to the MYOB accounting system.
PAHC focussed on Community Sport and Development to connect with our schools to support the growth and development of athletics in the community space including players, coaches, volunteers and officials. It is pleasing to note that these programmes have been community aimed to increase physical activity and the participation of athletics. Another large project to develop this community focus is that we have applied for $ 37,000 in funding for PHAC to bring athletics coaching to 1800 kids at Papakura schools. This has been endorsed by athletics nz and will act as a pathway for new members.
Coaching sessions were made available for parents and children with x2 run jump throw open days in October. Specialist Coaching and coaching clinics were introduced in club nights with Richard Kee helping our relay teams, Rob Ward,James Kuegler Papakura Coach of the year, Kelly Ihaka-Pitama, Brent Booker Athletics HP jumps coach, Tracey Phillips Commonwealth Games bronze medalist HJ, John Eden NZ Athletics HP throws coach and our senior athletes who assisted where possible.Official Courses were offered to increase our number of C grade officials so they could officiate at a Auckland Athletic meet level.
Community initiatives were organised with Touch NZ where a turbo touch and touch rugby 5 week module was held at Papakura High School and Massey Park. A run jump throw and a NRL Kura combine was held in between games to introduce athletics to different sports codes resulting in families joining PAHC. The Alterno Foundation donated $3000 worth of run jump throw equipment so we could deliver these mobile programmes and introduced this year to our under 5’s on club nights.
PAHC and Counties Manukau sport co-hosted a run jump throw day with a 160 children from the local schools participating, providing the opportunity to introduce athletics to the community and to identify potential athletes who joined PAHC as a result. Our partnership with The Papakura Marae and E Tū Whanau assisted new and current PAHC families with financial support with payment of fees, uniform and coaching where required.
Cross country had our strongest winter competition participation numbers in years with an increase in our youth and senior membership. We had some amazing results either placing, winning or gaining a PB at local, Counties, Auckland and NZ Championship events.
Our 2018-2019 season has also seen an increase in membership of 26% where we kept our membership open an additional 12 weeks for the 2018-2019 season. We had our highest entries at the Colgate Games, Counties and Auckland Championships. The results were fantastic with our athletes achieving personal goals whether there be participation, PB’s, placing on the podium and breaking records. Our Senior and para athletes performed extremely well at the Nationals where they made finals, placed or won their events. All these fantastic results will be celebrated in our prize giving.
PAHC athletes, officials, coaches and our volunteers had many successful finalists snd won a huge % of awards at the Papakura and Sports Awards. Congratulations to everyone who were nominated and won their category including PAHC who were voted Sports Club of the year. Athletics NZ have asked PAHC to present at their annual conference to share our story on what we have achieved as a club this year and the direction we are heading.
Athletics NZ, the Papakura Local Board and Auckland Councillor Daniel Newman will be supporting our next funding application of a $80,000 IAAF hammer cage so we can potentially hold high level, international and potentially nitro events, to look at a funded part time paid administrator to help us with resource consent, to renew our lease and to fund a storage shed to house pole vault mats. Bruce Pulman was able to get his architect to donate his time to draw up potential plans to develop our storage area to convert as a cooking, canteen/ cafe type of area.
We are launching a pilot throwing group TE PUA WAI TANGA O TE TANGATA which means (THE BLOSSOMING OF THE PEOPLE) where male and female athletes aged 11 and open will have a place to come together to develop the athlete with the tag line. “Throwing our way to lifelong wellness.” We will then roll out the Running/Jumping groups to follow. This is an opportunity to nurture and foster our athletes for the future of the sport.
Without a well-managed club, we simply wouldn’t have the athletes and families to provide competitions for. Thank you to all of the volunteer club officials, managers and coaches for the countless hours you dedicate to the running of the clubs and teams that are the backbone of our sport. To all of the volunteers, a heartfelt thank you for your continued selfless service of our great sport. On a personal note my sincere thanks to our executive, friends of the committee, members and supporters for their loyalty, selfless service and support over the last year. I would also like to make a special thanks to Fawna for her many years of dedication and support to the club.
Lastly, I would also like to mention that as club members who are 6+ are entitled to be involved in our Harriers trainng and events during the winter. Please talk to any of the committee members or look at the events section of our website for more information.