Sport Northland hosted the first Te Tai Tokerau Satellite event, supported by ASB, for the Sport NZ Women and Girls Summit.

The nationwide one-day event was aimed at those who aspire to or are currently working towards delivering more equal opportunities for young women to improve physical activity and wellbeing in Aotearoa, New Zealand. Shaped under the overall theme “Change in Action”, the 2021 Summit focused on the experiences of young women aged 16-30.

Thirty-five people from around Northland, including rangatahi from Whangarei Girls High and Dargaville High School, attended the event which consisted of tuning into the keynote speakers from the main event and holding in-house guest speakers and workshops.

Local guest speaker, Jude Campbell, recounted her journey and involvement in sport and active recreation and how her love for continuous learning and education led to her and three others establishing the Tahunakura Trust to support Māori tertiary students studying locally.

Janine Moy, System Lead at Sport Northland says “It was great to have this opportunity to come together and hear such wide-ranging experiences from the speakers, to meet likeminded people and discuss each other’s experiences. I was particularly proud of the group of rangatahi that got up in a room full of adults to explain the things they’d like to see in physical activity”.

Other keynote speakers included Arizona Leger (Emerging Director, Counties Manukau Rugby Football Union Board), Leilani Hakiwai (rangatahi fitness instructor for Patu), Chelsea Lane (High performance consultant and former NBA Executive) and Rachel Māia (para-climber).

ASB Northland regional manager Ngaire Angus says ASB was proud to partner with Sport Northland to bring the event to life.

“Sport can be such a powerful thing to bring people together and to improve both physical and mental wellbeing, and this was a fantastic opportunity to connect with some incredible wahine and to hear from some truly inspiring speakers.”

The Summit was also a lead up to the staging of the 8th IWG World Conference on Women & Sport in Auckland, to be held in May 2022.