We know that as a region, we aren’t doing enough physical activity - whether that be through play, active recreation or sport. But we also know that people have an appetite to do more.
Society has changed rapidly over the last 20 years, but the reality is that the play, active recreation and sport systems have struggled to keep up with these changes. This is what prevents people being active - what is being offered to get them active just isn’t always meeting their needs anymore.
Our team of subject matter experts support people to get active by making the offer of play, active recreation and sport more accessible, exciting, relevant and inclusive. The best way to do this is for us to support and influence – those who run it, administer it, organise it, invest in it and coach it.
We work with those organisations and influencers such as councils, principals and Health & Physical Education leads, iwi, play, active recreation and regional sporting organisations to ensure that our region is set up to best offer physical activity opportunities that are accessible for all. This includes helping those who provide opportunities to understand the barriers people face to being active - these include but are not limited to cost, location and time.
Insights and data are at the heart of our strategy - only when we know why people aren't active enough and what their barriers to participation are can we then ensure we are targeted in our approach to create real change.
Different ages, ethnicities, genders and those with impairments have varying barriers. It's not until you understand the needs of your audience that you can design an opportunity that helps overcome those barriers.
We want to ensure that the people of the Waikato build a lifelong love of being active that they can pass on to their whaanau.