Let’s go, Lego
Club fundraiser designed to keep kids on the ball
Eltham Football Club members are busy piecing together a fundraiser, and it’s going to be awesome. Club members have teamed up with members of a local Lego enthusiast club to put on a brick show over Taranaki Anniversary weekend.
Eltham AFC committee member and junior administrator Eddie Sanderson says the show is sure to appeal to all ages. “Everyone loves Lego.”
The brick show, held in their clubroom at Taumata Park in Eltham, will have a wide range of Lego models and builds, he says.
“We have some great displays coming, one guy is coming from Masterton with a big collection of Star Wars builds, there will be some vintage Lego on display, also moving displays with trains running. Last week we were contacted by someone who builds working remote-control vehicles using Lego Technic and he is planning to bring some of those to demonstrate as well.”
Toyworld New Plymouth has donated a $100 voucher for a raffle to run over the weekend, Sanderson says.
“And we have some club practice shirts as well to be won, along with some other completions and chances to win.”
The $2 admission will go to helping the club continue with an initiative Sanderson and his fellow committee members are passionate about.
“For the past few years we have run a zero-fees programme for our younger players. This means players aged 5 to 15 don’t get charged their registration fees, the club pays them for them. Those fees, which can be around $50 a season for a junior player, can be the reason a child doesn’t continue playing, it’s a cost that can really hurt family budgets.
“So a few years ago we decided as a club to pay that fee, to New Zealand Football, as a club rather than ask our younger players to pay it themselves. This fundraiser is a way to help us continue to meet that cost and keep football an affordable option for kids.”
It’s not the only way the club helps families with the costs around playing a sport. It also has something Sanderson calls the Old Boot Club.
“Kids don’t tend to wear out their boots and shin pads, they outgrow them, so we ask players to consider donating their outgrown boots and
shinpads to us, then when the season starts, players can look through the collection and find boots and pads to fit them. All we ask is at the end of the season, or when they outgrow them, they donate them back so the cycle can continue.”
As a father of three children himself, Sanderson knows just how expensive sport can be.
“And we want kids playing, we don’t want barriers in their way. We are already competing with things like PlayStations, so the easier and more affordable we can make sports, the better.”
He also knows just how popular Lego is with kids and adults alike.
“The LUG 3-45 Mountain to Surf Group is made up of people of all ages, from all over Taranaki, who share a love of Lego. It’s a great group and members have some great collections, which we are all looking forward to putting on display at the brick show.”
Sanderson is busy readying his own models for display. It’s hard to pick a favourite, he says, although Star Wars is always popular at Brick Shows.
“And I am planning a bit of a mash-up in my display, I have some Ghostbusters Lego along with Harry Potter sets, so am thinking Nearly Headless Nick might come across some Ghostbusters on the weekend.”
Find out more: sporty. co.nz/ElthamAFC