Up to $70k raised for women’s coaching at Manawatū gala
A Palmerston North gala has raised up to $70,000 to help build pathways for women in sport coaching.
Sport enthusiasts and frequent sponsors John and Angie Turkington hosted the gala at the Awapuni Raceway on Saturday in the hopes of sparking conversations, raising money and having a riot in support of Women in Sport Aotearoa.
The night saw high profile sports people sitting at each of the 40 tables, Q&A sessions with sportswomen such as former Black Ferns captain Dame Farah Palmer, former boardsailing Olympian Barbara Kendall and Sport New Zealand and High Performance Sport New Zealand chief executive Raelene Castle ONZM at the podium, and an auction sporting VIP experience offers for guests.
People were splashing out at a chance to win tickets to the Black Ferns and the Bledisloe Cup, private golfing lessons with a pro, dinner with Irene van Dyke, luxury stays, guided tours prior to the opening of Te Ahu a Turanga Manawatū Tararua Highway and more, Angie Turkington said.
While it was a night to remember regarding its pageantry, with more than $50,000 raised through the auction and other funds raised through ticket sales, it was all about acknowledging the gap in pathways for women in coaching and raising money to create the solutions to those barriers, she said.
“It was a really magic night of having really high profile women in sport in a room and actually talking about how do we do this? How do we make it easier?
“We just want to have more women capable of coaching high performance sport and so they have to go through the hoops to get there so we’ve got more to choose from at that high level.”
For John Turkington, he’d seen the jump in love for women’s sports in the past few years, with sportswomen such as Black Fern Ruby Tui becoming a household name.
However, while the profile of sportswomen was increasing the opportunities for coaching also needed to increase, he said.
“The interest in women’s sports has gone up exponentially in the last five years and on the coaching side of things, with female coaches, the opportunists haven’t existed at the same rate, so we’re trying to get some alignment with that,” he said. “But first it’s about acknowledging there’s a problem and then you’ve got to solve it.”
Cricket New Zealand president Lesley Murdoch who attended the gala said the night’s success was encouraging others to do more to support the kaupapa in their own work.
“The best thing that John and Angie are doing is finding a solution, it’s all very well to moan about things, but through their fund-raising they are finding a solution,” Murdoch said.
“You can sugar coat it all you like, but there’s still a lot of work to be done in that area.”
John Turkington said bringing resources to the table such as the tens of thousands raised at the gala was a start, but it was designing the pathways with the money that would make the difference
The couple would be meeting with the board of Women in Sport Aotearoa in the coming weeks to discuss the fund and how best to build the foundations for greater opportunity for women in sport coaching.