Waikato Bay of Plenty Magic Netball and the Waikato Rugby Union have got behind The Waterboy, a Waikato-based organisation dedicated to improving children’s lives through sport.
“It’s a win-win situation,” says The Waterboy founder and director Thomas Nabbs. “We share similar values, and so the two organisations have committed to supporting us. In turn, some of the children on our programme may well pick up their sport and stick with it and bring their families into the game too.”
The Waterboy has been working in Waikato for four years. “We want these children, many coming from tough backgrounds, to have positive aspirations and goals,” says Nabbs. “And one of the ways to do that is to take them to see some top players in action and, even better, meet and talk to them. It shows them what’s possible, gives them something to aim for.”
Magic netballers were on board early in an informal capacity with Casey Kopua and Monica Faulkner doing some one-on-one mentoring. Then last year WBOP Magic formally sealed the relationship. Since then more than half the Magic team has been involved with The Waterboy in some way.
WBOP zone CEO Rohan West says they first heard about The Waterboy from former Magic coach Margaret Forsyth “and it struck a chord”.
“I thought this is definitely an organisation and venture we need to get involved with. Netball is New Zealand’s ‘every woman’s’ game and it attracts players from diverse backgrounds and ethnicities, but we’re also aware that for some kids it’s a struggle to be involved, for all sorts of reasons.”
West also believes it’s good for the Magic players to get out into the community to share their stories. “The children they talk to hear about some of the hurdles the players have had to overcome to reach the top, that for some of them it hasn’t been easy; they’ve had to dig deep from an early age to get to the top of their game. Their stories can be motivational, can inspire children to create their own pathways.”
The Waterboy organises for between 30 and 50 children to attend Magic home games. These young supporters paint their faces, dress up, make a big racket and get to see their heroes in action.
West says The Waterboy is a positive organisation having real impact.
David Fox, commercial and marketing manager for Waikato Rugby, agrees, and that’s why his organisation is involved with The Waterboy.
“Waikato Rugby partnered up with the Waterboy this year with some of our men’s and women’s players, including Laghlan McWhannell and Stacey Waaka mentoring Waterboy kids,” says Fox. “This also helps with the players’ personal development and growth as individuals, and it’s a great way for the players and the WRU to give back to the community. They get to see real, positive results.”
In August, before the Waikato-Auckland game, the WRU drove and promoted a Gear Bag drop, sponsored with WRU partners Kukri and Lone Star. Players and people from the community dropped gear bags into a Waterboy-branded ute parked at FMG Stadium Waikato, and Kukri donated clothing and other items, including kicking tees.
As part of the promotion Waikato Rugby also hosted Waterboy-sponsored kids at the stadium, giving them a special behind the scenes tour, and the opportunity to watch the Mitre 10 Cup captain’s run. After the captain’s run the players joined the kids for photos and to sign autographs.
Nabbs says if champions or stars are born from The Waterboy then that’s great, but that’s not the principal aim. “It’s about showing children what’s possible.” More than 80 children have been helped on the programme to date and more than 60 sponsors are involved in different ways.
Nabbs believes that pay-to-view television has closed down many opportunities for children to see their heroes in action, that many young people struggle even to identify a hero, someone they want to emulate.
“These days, children might have one bad experience during a game and give up because of it,” he says. “If they can’t see what’s possible, what people have achieved despite challenges and obstacles, they’re not going to stick with it. It’s no surprise that player numbers in many sports are diminishing.”
Nabbs is advocating for a 50-50 split between pay-to-view and free-to-air sport on television. “Sport has the potential to change the course of people’s lives, but you’ve got to be able to show how that can be done and while I understand that sports bodies benefit from pay-to-view television, they are also losing players because of it.”
Other barriers to participating in sport include disability, confidence, age, gender and religion. The Waterboy helps to create initiatives to break down those barriers.
They recently introduced an initiative to encourage children to play and stay in sport. Sports stars are going into secondary schools to talk about homophobia in sport. Nabbs says often the language used on the playing field or court, even when used without malice, can hurt players who, for example, may be gay, lesbian, transgender, or who identify as non-binary. “That can affect willingness to participate and kill a person’s enjoyment because they don’t feel comfortable in that environment. It’s often a subconscious thing, words said without thinking that have harmful or negative impact, not just on the sports field, but in school playgrounds and in society in general.”
He says athletes can be positive influencers for young people struggling to find their way, and long-term The Waterboy is about creating better people and building stronger communities, “because that benefits everybody”.
For more stories and more information on how you can sponsor Kiwi kids through participating in sport, visit www.thewaterboy.org.nz/.
Website: www.thewaterboy.org.nz
Instagram: @the_waterboy_nz
Facebook: www.facebook.com/thewaterboynz
Contact info:
Thomas Nabbs, Director
021 022 9078, t.nabbs@thewaterboy.co.nz
Jay Ballantyne, Income Activator
022 306 9051, jayb@thewaterboy.co.nz
