Re:Play at Hauraki Plains Community Hub
Earlier this year, the Hauraki Plains Community Hub was selected as one of three pilot sites for Re:Play — a research-led project developed by the University of Waikato, Sport Waikato, and the University of Newcastle.
The Re:Play project is designed to explore how coaches can best create positive, inclusive environments for tamariki to enjoy sport, learn, and succeed. The programme reintroduces play, creativity, and joy into youth sport, with a focus on physical literacy, person-centred approaches, playful practice design, and purposeful coaching. It is being delivered in three phases:
- Feasibility study – identifying barriers and facilitators for children and their whānau in accessing community-based sport.
- Coach education – developing and trialling a coaching support package that encourages play.
- Club development – the longer-term goal of building multisport, multi-partner community clubs.
Our involvement was part of Phase 2: Coach education. Five local coaches took part through junior netball, supported by Sport Waikato, with training that encouraged them to design sessions combining both play and skill development.
The pilot brought both positives and challenges. Coaches were encouraged to think differently about practice, but it wasn’t always easy to balance playful sessions with core skill development. Parents sometimes expected training to look more “traditional,” and there was also overlap with FutureFERNS, which already has play-based elements built in.
A key highlight was the $10,000 in funding that came with the programme. After covering expenses, $6,762 was passed directly to Ngatea Junior Netball and the coaches involved. The Hub chose not to keep any of these funds for itself, instead ensuring they were reinvested into the junior sports space.
Ngatea Junior Netball now plans to use this funding to support other junior clubs at the Hauraki Plains Netball Centre. Elements learned from Re:Play will be built on, finding ways to make junior netball more inclusive, sustainable, and engaging into the future.
Looking ahead, Sport Waikato will be presenting the combined findings from all three pilot centres. These results will help show what worked, what barriers remain, and what lessons might be useful across different communities.
The Hub is proud to have contributed to this research project, understanding that community sport is evolving. In piloting Re:Play in the Plains, we continue to seek benefits and improvements for our local junior sport.
