Grassroots rugby
05 Jun 2019
The winter sport season is underway and College’s Tamai rugby team, its first team for boys under 10 years of age is now well into the swing of competition.
With four games behind them and their most recent game ending in a draw, Old Boy and coach Max Goodwin says the boys are playing with passion and purpose and improving all the time.
The squad of 19 boys – selected from Tamai Community of Learning schools Te Waka Unua, Bamford, Bromley, Linwood Avenue and Whītau – train together and then have a meal in the Dining Hall at College on Wednesday after school and play in the Canterbury rugby U10 grade on Saturday mornings.
Alongside Max, Old Boy Harry Hawkins and Year 13 student Gus Coates also coach the Tamai team. The older boys thoroughly enjoy mentoring the young players. “It’s a great experience,” says Max, “Looking after the logistics, learning how to manage the team, helping them develop their skills and giving them the opportunity to enjoy doing what we enjoy doing. I’m learning so much. I love it.”
Max hopes this year is just the start. He would like to see the Tamai project grow to include more teams and different sporting codes. “The demand is there, the enthusiasm is there, the need is there, the kids are there, but it depends on attracting sufficient sponsorship. It’s such a fantastic project to be involved in, and with enough supporters on board I’m sure we can make it work.”
