Sport: Trying to cure the summertime blues

Daniel Blakely (6), of Arthur St School, runs for the ball in a futsal game at the Edgar Centre...
Daniel Blakely (6), of Arthur St School, runs for the ball in a futsal game at the Edgar Centre last year. Photo by Linda Robertson.
Tennis courts sit empty at Logan Park earlier this week. Photo by Peter McIntosh.
Tennis courts sit empty at Logan Park earlier this week. Photo by Peter McIntosh.

Summer is just around the corner. In fact, this week in the South it arrived early in the form of a hot front. So bring out the cricket bats and tennis racquets. But more and more it is becoming surfboards and footballs. Sports editor Steve Hepburn checks out the quickly changing summer sporting landscape. 

Remember those meat and two veg meals? Served up day after day, week after week.

The sausages, the chops, the roast - always with peas - and spuds, either mashed or boiled. They were the staple diet for so many years.

Well, summer team sport was like that for so long.

A few hardy annuals dominated. Cricket, tennis and softball were to the fore.

But the dinner table has changed.

These days there is the pasta, pizzas, chicken satay, sushi, curries and paninis.

Sport is the same. The smorgasbord is vast and wide.

No longer are there one or two options. Pupils at secondary schools could play more than 30 sports.

Some of these new options are making big gains and the regulars are taking a hit - in some cases, a mortal hit.

Sport Otago chief executive John Brimble admits changes in sport simply reflect changes in society.

''Futsal is the fastest growing sport in this area at the moment. It is short and sharp, over and done within 20 minutes,'' he said.

''Players feel inclusive and regardless of your abilities you can play ...

parents really appreciate that they do not have to devote a whole lot of time to it.

''Parents are time-poor these days. You might have both of them working or working six or seven days a week. If you're doing that, are you going to spend a whole day watching cricket at the weekend?''

Cricket is a sport which is making changes, introducing the twenty/20 game, games shortened in junior grades, and a burgeoning twilight grade.

Softball is struggling, down to two premier teams in Dunedin, and is trying to get into more schools.

Tennis is also looking at other formats for players - more midweek competitions and different structured teams.

But Tennis Otago life member Dennis Radford said tennis was suffering from a ''casualisation of sport'' in which no-one commits to anything and nothing is taken too seriously.

''People, on a whim, will change. They'll look outside, see it is a nice day and want to go for a surf. So they'll just opt out,'' he said.

''Now the Edgar Centre is a wonderful facility and I don't want to criticise it, but there is no club base anymore. People just go down there, play 45 minutes of doubles and 45 minutes of singles, on say a Wednesday, and that is them for the week. They don't want to play on Saturdays.

''That club loyalty has gone out the window. I was at a game last week, a fantastic club game. It was the last game of the tie and there was no-one there. All the teammates had left.

"The only people watching were the parents of the players, a girlfriend and a couple of casual observers. The teammates had all gone home. They had played their games and gone.''

Radford said tennis players had nothing to aspire to, with the lack of a pathway for players.

Many simply gave up.

Competitions were played during the week and the club play on Saturday had been changed to smaller teams to make the competition viable.

Women played against men in second grade.

Tennis ball sales were holding up, so people were still playing the game. They just wanted to play casually.

''The population as a whole is a lot more mobile. We picked our top 10 women for a tie in seven weeks. Four of them work on Sunday so we asked them to get it off. They said they could but would have to work on Saturdays instead. That meant they would miss their club games. They have to work to pay their fees.

''Sport here in Dunedin has always relied on students. And in summer they are not here. Without the students, what would rugby look like?''

As well as tennis, the Edgar Centre hosts the booming futsal.

The sport - indoor soccer with five players on each side - has exploded in Dunedin in the past five years, so much so the Edgar Centre, the biggest indoor sporting facility in the country, is not big enough for all the primary school teams wanting to play.

There are 200 teams lining up for futsal in the coming term four for primary school teams - another 30 missed out - and all up 400 teams will play the sport this term.

''Kids love it and parents love it too. They know they can just come along and watch their kids play and we do all the rest,'' Football South futsal development manager Mike Clark said.

''It is just convenient for them. It's never cancelled, they know where it is going to be played and everyone can get involved.''

Clark said high school and adult leagues were growing, the sport was to be played at the Youth Olympics in 2018 and there were full professional leagues overseas.

Dunedin was the biggest futsal centre in the country.

He said it was hard to tell if futsal was a fad or its popularity was here to stay.

Touch is another summer sporting team option.

The sport boomed in the early 1990s before falling over due to fading interest and poor infrastructure.

Otago Touch development officer Grant Milne said it was nowhere near those numbers now, although it was gaining in popularity, especially with juniors.

''It's easy to play. You can get out of your car, go to the game at say 6pm, get back in your car and you're home again at say 6.35pm. People like to play a competitive sport. And touch you're not playing the same team every week,'' Milne said.

''It's not expensive. It's something you pick up in the schoolyard and is almost self-regulating. Anyone can start up a game.''

Games were now being played by 5-year-olds and most games were played during the week.

Touch now has a proper pathway for players, who can play for their country.

That is something sports such as futsal do not appear to have, although that is changing.

Surfing is growing.

What used to be viewed as a bit of an alternative sport now has a full competitive structure.

The 2013 census recorded 145,000 surfers in the country having surfed at least once that year.

That goes to 70,000 when it is surfing at least once a month.

Paddleboarding, blanket television coverage, and more accessible and cheaper equipment have helped surfing.

''Anyone can do it. It's said 65% of us live within 5km of a coastline. So it is accessible. People love getting out on the water,'' Surfing New Zealand events manager Ben Kennings said.

''It's fun. My mum and dad go paddleboarding nearly every day. You can do it all day, every day. It used to be a bit of a fringe sport and some people still hold to that.

''But people like to compete. That is just the way they are and they can do that now.''

Surfing, like futsal and to some degree touch, is a sport which does not fit into any box.

And that is, perhaps, what is causing the drop in sports such as cricket and softball.

Not only do they take time to play, have a stringent set of rules and are team games, but they are also hard.

In cricket, failure will come around more often than success.

It is the same in softball - there are more outs than homers.

In today's world where everyone wants success and no-one wants to admit to failure, perhaps that more than anything else is hurting the traditional summer games.

That and the fact they are almost exclusively played on the weekend and practice is required to get better.

Brimble, however, is confident the crickets and softballs of the world will survive.

''Maybe they have to look at a different format. Cricket has it with twilight. But cricket will always be there.

''There is always going to be a place for team sports. We are still the envy of the world in that degree.''

 

 


Reasons cricket does not rate

 

• Takes too long

• Too expensive to play

• Seen as elitist

• Hard to get volunteers involved

• Have to play in all sorts of weather

• Women have no club competition

• Poor school-club links

• Not involved in game for long periods

Source: NZ Cricket - Amateur cricket: participation research and key findings

List of summer sports available by the New Zealand Secondary Schools Sports Council:

adventure racing, athletics, Australian football, beach volleyball, lawn bowls, cricket, croquet, cycling, dragon boats, equestrian, futsal, golf, Ki o rahi, life-saving - royal, life-saving - surf, multi sports, orienteering, petanque, rowing, rugby sevens, softball, surfing, tennis, touch, triathlon, duathlon, volleyball, waka ama, water polo, windsurfing, yachting

 

 


Participation rates
Adults 16+ (% of population)

 

Walking                           60

Swimming                        30

Cycling                             25

Weights/gym                   23

Jogging                            20

Fishing                             20

Dance                               11

Pilates/yoga                     11

Tramping                          10

Golf                                   10

Aerobics                             9

Canoeing/kayaking            8

Tennis                                7

Football                              6

Snow sports                       6

Callisthenics                       6

Netball                                6

Touch                                  5

Cricket                                 5

Hunting                                5

Source: Sport New Zealand active participation survey 2013-14

 


 

 

 

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