Coach ends on high note
Here’s a look at what’s been happening this week in Waikato community newspapers.
Agold at the National Secondary School Waka Ama Championships was the perfect way to end coach Joshua Steward’s time at Huntly College.
Steward has been a teacher at the school for over 13 years and a waka ama coach there for around eight years.
He’d considered resigning at the end of last year, but decided to stay on for one more term to give the U19 boys one last chance at winning nationals.
The boys didn’t disappoint. Halex Herewini, Karl Walters, Joseph Clark, PJ Clune, Colenszo Haddon and Haydn Whippy arrived at Huntly College as year nine students, with no previous waka ama experience.
Steward put a paddle in their hands and taught them how to use it. Five years later, the boys won gold in the 500 metre final at nationals.
‘‘I could see a look of determination and focus in their eyes and I had a sense they were going to do it,’’ Steward said.
The boys have come close to winning multiple times.
But they’ve never given up, Steward said.
‘‘Since year nine, they’ve paddled all year round. Five days a week, the boys are on the water at 6.45am to train for an hour and a half before school.’’ Their determination and perserverance has finally paid off, Steward said.
Steward was introduced to waka ama after he approached Turangawaewae Waka Sports about 12 years ago. He went on to compete at an open men’s level.
Through Te Wa¯ nanga o Aotearoa he completed a Kaihoe Waka Coaching Diploma and started training and coaching at Huntly College.
His favourite memories with the boys are from when they first started.
‘‘They all had a very basic knowledge of what the sport is about. You had to have that vision that they could be a successful team and they’ve worked extremely hard to get there.’’ Steward focuses a lot of his coaching around kilometres.
‘‘I like to get a lot of kilometres under their belt and do a lot of long distance training in the build-up to an event. Slowly, we do more high intensity, shorter distance training.’’ Team unity is also a high priority, Steward said.
‘‘You’re not going to win by yourself because there’s five other paddlers you need to be in time with.’’ There were seven other teams in the final and the Huntly College boys qualified with the fastest time. The final was won by 0.05 of a second.
‘‘It was tight, we didn’t know we’d won until we saw the times,’’ PJ Clune said.
‘‘We were determined to do good in our last year and sir’s last year.’’ ‘‘He’s been the best coach’’, Haydn Whippy said.
‘‘He’s helped us all the way, not just in waka ama.’’ He’s taught us to wake up early every day and to give our all in everything we do.’’ The school’s last win at nationals was in 2014, with a team which had Whippy’s older brother in it.
Steward is moving on to start an outdoor education department at Nga¯ ruawa¯ hia High School next term.
North Waikato News
Comments anger director
The director of Supercharged Energy has threatened to take legal action over allegations made by some Ruapehu District councillors.
Richard Homewood said he was taking comments made from councillor Karen Ngatai and Adie Doyle at a council meeting last week very seriously.
Ngatai said she had lodged a complaint with the Commerce Commission claiming the company was using bait advertising to attract elderly and vulnerable low income residents.
‘‘You’re getting free panels? No they’re not free. You have to buy more and then if you go and get a loan there’s more interest on that loan . . . It’s all those little catches and it’s for 10 years and if you pull out, it’s $3000.
‘‘The only way to get out is to pay. It’s very, very scary.’’
The Commerce Commission said they do not have an investigation into the company but they received four complaints about the company which needed to go through a screening process.
Homewood said the core part of the business was commercial installations but recently they had come up with a package to offer home owners.
‘‘The whole idea of free solar is to give people a taste and get an introduction,’’ he said.
‘‘There is a 10-year contract but that is there in case people don’t want to upgrade, [so] we don’t go broke.
‘‘It’s just so we can justify the costs but ultimately we’d like to help people get to a point where they don’t need to be on a term but they can add more panels, the plan disappears, power halves.’’
Councillor Doyle said people should seek independent advice before signing up.
Homewood said the solar deal is not prescriptive and no one is being forced into a setup that won’t benefit their situation.
‘‘We’re going to give people a power rate if they upgrade the system, we’re giving people 9 cents during the day and 8 cents at night and no one can do it that cheaply.
‘‘We’ve become an energy company so we can make solar work better for people so we want to make solar as affordable for everyone of different privileges’.
President for Ruapehu Grey Power Alan Turton was also concerned that vulnerable people would be targeted and asked council for help.
Taumarunui resident Ray Thurtell, 70, has been using solar for six years and he supported the move to promote and educate people on solar so they can start saving money.
Councillor Jacques Windell was criticised at the meeting for promoting the idea.
Windell insisted the promotion was a sensible way to help people struggling with their energy bills to ‘‘get out of a hole’’ and it was supported by the Taumarunui Residents and Ratepayers Association of which he is the chair.
Ruapehu Press
Loos on the agenda
A new $200,000 public toilet is among the proposed projects to help Matamata-Piako improve the ‘‘little things’’ around the district.
All up, the Matamata-Piako District Council was responsible for maintaining 20 public toilets in the district, including the one at Waharoa Domain, which was flagged to be replaced or upgraded during 2019-20.
The council said a single, new toilet cubicle, which met the required standards expected today, could cost about $90,000. It considered a dual cubicle toilet, like the one at the Morrinsville Recreation Ground, as an option for Waharoa.
‘‘This is a standard toilet used at some of our facilities like the Morrinsville Rec and Herries Park,’’ the council’s communications adviser Eion Scott said.
‘‘These toilets are low maintenance which are very sturdy and resistant to deal with graffiti and vandalism.’’ The council proposed a budget of up to
$200,000 to cover the cost.
‘‘We are still going to do some detailed work on what option will be the most efficient and cost effective solution, whether changing the existing building or whether a new build would be most appropriate.’’ It was just one project proposed in the council’s draft 10-year plan, which was out for public feedback.
Under the Healthy Communities section of the plan, an extra $320,000 was flagged to focus on maintaining civic services and public spaces, such as parks, toilets, rubbish, footpaths and gardens.
However it would have to be paid for through general rates. For a $550,000 urban property, this could add $16.28 to the annual rates bill. For an $8 million rural property, it could mean an extra
$236.83 to the rates bill.
The council also wanted to spend $1.9m to extend walkways in the district, as well as $1.75m on revitalising CBDs in Matamata, Morrinsville and Te Aroha.
The CBD work was planned to be completed in the first three years of the 2018-28 plan.
Matamata Chronicle