• Restructure of Hawke's Bay Secondary Schools football

Restructure of Hawke's Bay Secondary Schools football

Late last year NZ Football delivered a new vision for the development of football in New Zealand.

There has been an increased emphasis on player pathways inside club programs. This included creating new Under 15 and Under 17 local competitions. The U17 league has not begun this year, but the U15 League is taking place on a Monday evening.

These changes resulted in clubs being more active in the pursuit of Secondary School players and particularly players from schools’ 1st XI Division 1 teams. Hastings Boys’ Sport’s Programme has always focused on student management, planning and welfare.

We have always seen the need for a holistic approach balancing student’ sport and academic responsibilities. With football playing students at Hastings Boys’ we have had a policy in place to manage training and playing time to avoid injuries with a view to keeping a balance in life. A meeting between myself and Hastings Boys’ Director of Sport Dean Hulls came up with the concept of midweek football to allow schools & clubs proactively to work together to find the right balance for the students. This approach would allow for a student athlete centred approach instead of a “tug of war” between schools and clubs.

There have been historically several obstacles to schools playing midweek football. By the time the boys got out of school and had a proper warm up, light would become an issue. Schools and clubs would need to work together to manage student trainings to avoid fatigue. It was important for clubs to buy into any change to make sure all stakeholders agreed to the value, integrity and importance of school sport as much as the need to manage boys’ welfare.

A meeting of the Boys Division 1 schools took place at the end of Term 1 to make sure all schools were on the same page. All schools agreed that something proactive and positive had to be done. Given the requirement to play under lights, with ground availability, it was decided to look at Friday night football.

Schools needed to get the clubs on board with the need to use their grounds and lights. Clubs agreed to the concept. It was confirmed that if the Hawke’s Bay Sport Management Committee and HBSS Football agreed, the concept would become reality this year. The change has now been approved. The concept,
which is a seismic change in the structure of youth football, will hopefully better look after students and protect the importance of Hawke’s Bay Secondary School Boys Division 1 football.

While this concept began with a meeting between two people at Hastings Boys who saw the big picture, it quickly developed with all parties recognizing what was best for the development and welfare of school aged players. Without all schools and clubs working together in a positive manner this change could not have happened. The schools involved are Napier Boys’, Taradale, St John’s College, Lindisfarne, Taikura Rudolf Steiner, Havelock North & Hastings Boys’ including Christian Niederer (left) and Jarvis Alatise (pictured above).

Clubs allowing the schools to use their facilities are Western Rangers, Havelock, Maycenvale and Napier City Rovers. There are huge benefits to this new concept.

It is hoped that more football supporters will be keen to come and watch a match on a Friday before their club games on a Saturday. There’s a greater chance to
manage and develop officials on a different day. The standard of HBSS Division 1 will increase with all school players now available to their school teams. It’s a great opportunity to showcase school football which is a fantastic standard to watch. All HBSS Division 1 games kick off at 6pm on a Friday.

School leagues are still managed and administrated by Greg kettle. Draws can be found on the GK Sports website at http://www.gksports.co.nz/Senior-Boys-Football/Senior-Boys-Draw .

Division one games this week will see Lindisfarne take on St John's at the Mitre 10 Sports Park, NBHS take on Taradale at Napier City Rovers and HBHS take on Taikura St Leonards' Park. Havelock North have the bye.