Teams pass on fast-food reward
Kids in Lower Hutt are lapping up swimming pool passes as sports clubs ditch fastfood vouchers to award to their player of the day.
Replacing vouchers for fast-food outlets like McDonald’s and Burger King and replacing them with pool passes is part of a Hutt City Council-backed scheme that has seen 22,000 kids get passes since 2016.
So far, 27 clubs have joined the scheme, including Petone and Hutt Old Boys Marist junior rugby.
Healthy Families Lower Hutt manager Hayley Goodin said using pool passes to reward junior sportspeople was a much better option than providing fast-food vouchers.
‘‘Pool passes offer a double benefit. Not only are we removing an opportunity for unhealthy eating but we’re providing a new free opportunity for the player to be active at the pool.’’
Former White Sox captain Lara Andrews has pushed for softball to get involved and the boys team she coaches, the Te Aroha Under-11 Keas, are enthusiastic supporters. ‘‘The boys absolutely love it. They get their pool passes and they tell me stories about how they went to the pool with their family.’’
One of those is Cruz Maui-Kea. ‘‘It is cool that when I work hard for something, I get something fun in return. In the holidays, when I’m bored, I can walk to McKenzie Pool with my sister and use my pool pass.’’
Many Ma¯ori and Pasifika families struggled to find the money for council pools and Andrews said it was often an opportunity they would not otherwise get.
Giving kids fastfood vouchers as player of the day awards was never as generous as it sounded, she said.
A parent would not take one child to redeem the voucher and by the time teammates and family were included, a parent could end up spending $100 on junk food, she said.
To be eligible, teams and clubs must agree not to provide unhealthy player of the day awards and to promote the use of water as the drink of choice.
Promoting pool passes and water in junior sport is an approach supported by softball great Naomi Shaw.
‘‘Whether it was coaching nationallevel elite athletes or my moko’s club teams, I have always emphasised drinking water and encouraged my players to bring water. This initiative helps spread that message and the fact it also provides an opportunity to be active is a bonus’’.
Healthy Food Guide nutritionist Claire Turnbull supports moving away from using food as a reward and believes the council should be congratulated.
‘‘It is such a good thing the council is doing. I think it is extremely positive.’’
And the practice should be extended to adults, she said, as workplaces and sports clubs often gave food or drink as a reward.
However, providing staff with alcohol or chocolates was like giving children a fast-food voucher for doing well at sport, and the practice should end, Turnbull said.
Stopping the use of junk food being a reward is not easy and Turnbull hopes other councils copy Hutt City.