You might remember late last year that NorthTec made a controversial decision to dis-establish (amongst other programmes) their Sport and Recreation Course that is run out of the ASB Leisure Centre in Whangarei.

The response from the sport and recreation sector was swift and definite – many, many submissions from different organizations in the sector were presented to NorthTec.

The thrust of the submissions centred around the impact not having the course would have on sport and recreation workforce in Northland going forward ie. our future workforce would be unlikely to have the quality it has now if the course was not operating.

Sport Northland submitted on the positive impact the course has had on their workforce – we are the biggest employer of graduates of the course (currently 22 of Sport Northland’s current permanent staff are NorthTec graduates and well over 40 have been employed by Sport Northland over the last 20 years), which is significantly more than any other course in the country. As one of the country’s top performing Regional Sports Trusts, this is testament to the quality of students coming through the programme.

But the wider sector also values this locally trained talent – more than a dozen graduates are currently working in our member organisations and dozens more have done so in the past and have now gone on to bigger and better things.

The fitness industry (part of the sport and recreation sector) is a big recruiter of NorthTec Sport and Recreation graduates, with at least 38 (that we know of, but there is likely to be more) working in various roles in the fitness industry.

Others have gone on to work in roles in areas such as aquatics, the outdoors, schools, tertiary, health, coaching, sports administration and events.                                       

This provides evidence that Northtec graduates do go on to many varied roles within the sector, both within Northland and elsewhere in NZ and overseas. The course is definitely providing an excellent training service for the sector.

Sport Northland also believes the sport and recreation campus at the ASB Leisure Centre is one of the competitive advantages that the course possesses. Students are able to ‘live-and-breath’ a ‘real-life’ sports facility that features purpose-built facilities for the course in addition to daily access to the three-court indoor stadium, Kensington Fitness and a massive green space in Kensington Park.

In addition, students have access to Sport Northland and the regional sports organizations for practicums and internships. This has led to the sport and recreation sector in Northland employing more NorthTec Sport and Recreation Course graduates (by a long way) than any other tertiary provider in the country, providing a wealth of talent for our sector.

Eventually NorthTec made the right decision and the course has been continued, but with some caveats around minimum numbers in the future – as a result Sport Northland and NorthTec have signed an agreement to partner in strengthening the course going forward.

More on this next week.