Champions fundraise at Fieldays
New Zealand waka ama championship winners were among those fundraising at Fieldays 2014.
Teachers and parents from Huntly College and Cambridge High School have used this year’s Fieldays to raise funds for sports teams at their schools.
A team of staff and students from Huntly College cleaned in the main pavilion after exhibitors and visitors left each day.
Netballers were workers and beneficiaries of the first two evenings.
Waka ama champions from the school were given Friday and Saturday shifts as part of their fundraising for trips to Australia and Brazil later this year.
Coach Josh Steward, who teaches physical education at Huntly College, said it was the success of the school’s waka ama teams at the national level that led to the decision to challenge the students with competition at an international level.
“At this year’s New Zealand Secondary School Waka Ama Championship, the Huntly College teams ended up winning gold and silver and bronze.
“We have a policy at our school when teams do well in a New Zealand scale, we like to give them an opportunity abroad to go and see how they compete against other countries.
“So this [fundraising activity is to help get teams to] a competition in Australia called the Gubbi Gubbi Trans Tasman Series. Countries like Tahiti, New Zealand, and Australia all come together and compete on the Sunshine Coast.”
While the group from Huntly College has been involved during the evenings at Fieldays 2014, the team of fundraisers from Cambridge High School were among the earliest of early birds.
Arriving in time for meetings at 5.30 each morning, they would then don fluorescent vests and get assigned to various locations as parking attendants.
Sarah Monkley, a psychology and social studies teacher at the school, was one of the smiley, arm swinging team.
“It’s fundraising for the Cambridge High School Rowing Club,” she said.
“The Cambridge High School Rowing Club do a couple of major fundraisers each year to pay for the new boats and equipment and gear to keep the costs down because rowing is a really expensive sport.
“We do the parking every morning of the Fieldays, and we also do boat holding at a few of the regattas, which is basically where you just hold the boats before they take off on their races.
“They seem to be jobs that no one else wants to do.
“We do this for our children. That’s what we do it for, and for our pockets, too, I guess, because every dollar we’re earning doing this sort of thing is not money we [parents] have to find.”
Sarah elaborated on some of the costs involved with the sport, from rowing boat prices exceeding that of many a family car to the multiple training sessions per week.
The sport has grown in popularity at the school, she said, with there currently not being enough boats for the number of students who would like to participate.
“We’re having to trial, now. Kids have to trial to get in a squad.
“It is a fantastic problem to have, but we have to look at the long term plan. How are we going to accommodate the extra numbers? How are we going to find the funds for all these extra boats that we need?”
For both Huntly College and Cambridge High School, fundraising is part of the answer to their need for extra funds. Contact from potential sponsors would also be welcome.
For more information:
Huntly College: 0-7-828 7152
Cambridge High School: 0-7-827 5415
