With the success of a community touch project occurring in Raumanga, Whangarei, Touch NZ decided to set something up similar in Kaikohe.  A steering group of enthusiastic locals in partnership with NZ Police, ACC, Northern Cricket and Sport Northland came together decided to introduce cricket to the Kaikohe Community – an activity that isn’t normally played.

The steering group wanted to engage and thought cricket would be a great way to do this, coupled with a new teacher, Tershwin Raubenheimer from Northland College who also plays cricket and wanted to promote the game.  Raubenheimer managed to attract some interest from the students at school to pull a team together who also played in the six-weeks of free community cricket at Lindvart Park on Friday nights.

“What a success it was throughout the six weeks seeing kids and adults from the community come and connect’ says Sport Northland’s Community Connector Cheryl Smith.

While the opportunity was fairly new to some of the participants, they had a quality experience which we know from research is imperative for young people to have a lifelong love of sport.  It’s not always about winning, rather having a good time and connecting with others.  D’Jahn Wilson, aged 14 from Northland College explains “I liked socialising with all my cousins and friends, but I took the challenge from my Aunty to play a sport, so I did, and it was pretty cool in the end.” And as 13-year-old Marlee Walker says “I don’t play any sports and never knew anything about cricket but wanted to give it a go. It was something to do on a Friday night with my two younger sisters and just to get out of the house. I’ve met heaps of other kids which is cool. I would definitely come back again.”

Edina Harris, coordinator for the six-week activity goes onto say ”we had a few of the kids turn up over the field on Friday, so my partner and kids set up the cricket gears, and that’s what I came home to after mahi. It really made my heart melt knowing that we've all formed a trusting relationship with these kids that they are comfortable to keep coming back even though they know we've finished for the year, that really blows me away”.

“This is community connection at its best” says Smith. Big thank you too all the local businesses who came on board who helped with spot prizes and its fantastic that both Northland College and Kaikohe Christian School teachers have connected with Northland Cricket to formulate how they can run cricket in 2020.