Chairperson sets out new priorities
The Tūparikino Active Community Hub and Māori development are two areas of focus for new Sport Taranaki chairperson Rochelle Farmer.
The corporate and commercial lawyer at Govett Quilliam has taken on the role for three years, succeeding former detective Grant Coward.
She is the organisation’s second female chair, after Devon Intermediate principal Jenny Gellen.
Farmer now has the responsibility of setting the organisation’s strategy and leading the board, with the community hub project fitting into the vision.
“The overall strategy and mandate is to ensure Taranaki is healthy and active,” she said.
Farmer was exposed to a number of different sports while growing up in Pukekohe, including cross country, tennis, netball and hockey and played at representative level.
A mother to a 16-month-old, her perspectives about youth sport have changed.
She said young people could not easily be active if there weren’t spaces available, which was why the sports hub was a big focus.
“We can’t have these little kids waiting until really late at night [to play sport] and a lot of parents will pull the pin on having the kids play that sport if there’s not a facility available in normal hours.”
The hub is just one sports and recreation-related project in the New Plymouth District Council’s long-term plan.
Initial plans for the project at New Plymouth Raceway have been scaled back for now to a lower cost alternative budgeted at $35 million.
Farmer said the hub would become a community area for casual sport, a hangout space and facility for traditional codes.
During her tenure at Sport Taranaki, she wants to make sure the organisation is serving the Māori community “as best we can.”
While Sport Taranaki’s governing body, Sport New Zealand, gives them areas of focus, there is autonomy within that.
The national focus is on making sure kids aged five to 18-year-olds are active, the theory being that it will set a pattern for the rest of their life.
Farmer said the local aim was wider, and included providing programmes for older people to improve their strength, balance and wellbeing.
She also wanted to build an awareness of what Sport Taranaki does and how they can help codes.
She used basketball as an example of a code that’s increased its participation but had no one to organise it.
It was Sport Taranaki that helped them set up what is now Basketball Taranaki.
“It will surprise sporting organisations what we can help with.”