Over 200 primary school students from Dargaville participated in the Rippa Rugby event, promoting physical activity, community engagement, and team building. The event included activities from the Tū Manawa Active Play Trailer and support from the Northland Rugby Union. The success of the event encouraged young participants to engage in Rippa Rugby at school or join local rugby clubs. Overall, the event fostered a love for the sport and provided a much-needed opportunity for rural schools to come together for sporting opportunities.

It has been several years since there has been a Rippa Rugby event in Dargaville and local schools were keen to see this event return. The purpose of bringing this event back was to create exposure for the sport, help inform whānau of sporting opportunities within local clubs, get tamariki active, provide an opportunity for whānau to support their tamariki, utilise community facilities and provide an event for schools to come together and connect.

This year's event was held at Pioneer Rugby Park in Dargaville, where over 200 year 1-4 students from Te Kōpuru School, Dargaville Primary School and Ruawai Primary School took part in 12-minute games of rippa rugby over the day. From the beginning of the day, there was a focus on sportsmanship with each team having values cards to be given to team members which celebrate attributes such as whanaungatanga/relationships and connections, manaakitanga/kindness and respect, manawaroa/resilience and kori tinana/movement, play, exercise.

Ruawai Primary Schools ‘Create and Relate Coordinator', Paddy Jackson says “having events like this is an easy way to get everyone together, especially rural schools unable to travel too far to give their students sporting opportunities”.

The day featured a mix of activities with the Tū Manawa Active Play Trailer available for tamariki to play and get creative between games of rippa rugby. The play trailer was organised through Reuben Cohen, coordinator for Blue Light and Youth Aid Constable who arranged the drop off and collection of the trailer.

Northland Rugby Union (NRU) were present on the day to support the kaupapa, Hannah Shalders school liaison manager at NRU says “it is so cool to see so many kids out here in Dargaville playing Rippa Rugby. This has been the biggest event that I have been a part of in this area and is awesome to see the game growing and so many girls out there giving it a go”. Six students from Dargaville High School refereed on the day, supporting younger tamariki with the games – this relationship is fundamental and a central part for events like these taking place (and planning to be maintained) as all participants and supporters can see the value.

“It’s really good for the children to be able to come and do stuff with other schools and learn good sportsmanship and good for parents to be involved as the children have been a little bit isolated prior to this” says Lisa Greville, Te Kōpuru School Principal.

The day was a success with support from parents, caregivers and kaiako from Te Kōpuru, Dargaville and Ruawai Primary Schools. Leading on from the success of the day, tamariki have the opportunity to choose to register with a local rugby club for the Saturday Rippa Rugby season starting in term two or encourage their teachers to get the Rippa Rugby gear out at school for them to utilise.

The Northern Wairoa Primary School Sports Association (NWPSSA) has various sporting events in the calendar throughout the year for tamariki to be active and schools to connect.