How long have you been at Darfield High for now?
“Five-and-a-half year. When I came in it was a blank canvas – they had always had a teacher who was doing (organising sports) as an add-on, and they decided they wanted a standalone sports co-ordinator.
“I was employed initially part-time, but then went on to be basically full-time for sports co-ordinating.
“My role changed a little bit about two years ago, so I'm now development manager of Darfield High, but I oversee the sport and I have two other part-time staff in the sports department below me.”
How many sports does the school offer?
“We’re up to over 30 sports a year that we offer, it’s very varied. Rowing is new, we do dragon boating, there’s a lot of other ones that have been left off and then come back again, so it fluctuates from year-to-year, depending on what the students want to do.
“Basketball is one of our biggest ones over the winter months, and volleyball is also another big one, especially in the summertime.”
Tell me about rowing – Selwyn Rowing (of Darfield High, Ellesmere College, Rolleston College and Lincoln High) is in its second year competing now?
“Our aim this year is to get some rowers into the Maadi Cup, because with Selwyn Rowing, we have teams from all the schools competing in regional events, but as soon as we get to the school events like the South Island secondary schools and Maadi Cup, then we have to split up.”
How have the kids found it so far?
“The kids love it, and there's a new lot that have come through, and they’re competing well. They got into a couple of A finals at the (Canterbury champs) and quite a few B finals. Some of them are only in year 10 so they have got a couple of years left to go, which is awesome.”
Outside of work, are you a very sporty person?
“Yes I am, I used to play a lot of golf, but I've had knee problems so I’m more of a support person.
“My parents were involved with the Hororata Golf Club and I was awarded a life membership last year. I was on the executive committee at Canterbury Golf for eight years and was one of the people who initiated the Selwyn Futures Hub, and coached regularly for that.”
Tell me a bit about the Selwyn Futures Hub, what is that all about?
“It’s a group of seven clubs, designed for under 18s who wanted to play golf, because we need the next generation coming through to play.
“We did a membership so these kids could go and play on courses (in Selwyn) for around $130 (now $150) a year, and then Kevin Hughes, who’s a professional, and I, would go around and do coaching every weekend at these courses.”
How is it going now?
“It’s just taken off. There’s a North Canterbury Hub as well, and when I left (in 2021), there was probably 130 members, and now I think there’s two or three hundred.”
Were you a player yourself?
“Yes, I won the senior women’s championships (at Hororata) a few times (her best handicap was 5.5), represented the club many times and played in a combined Pollock Cup team, and for Central Canterbury.
“I haven’t played a lot of competition golf in the past five to 10 years and left the Canterbury Golf committee in 2021 due to work commitments and injury.”
What is special to you about working at Darfield High?
“Just working with the kids and seeing them enjoy themselves.
“They’re very enthusiastic and they love their sport, some students only come to school for sport, so we have an amazing relationship with them because we’re not teachers, we’re seen as quite different.
“In the Koru Games last year, we had 270 kids, nearly all of our year 7 and 8s, and some of them aren’t sporty but they just enjoy getting out there and making new friends.”
“We’ve got around 25 rowers, which is a good number for us, obviously trying to all come together and do it after school.
“We hope to increase it now that we’ve got more boats, because our issue was we didn't have the boats to put the kids in.
“Now we’ve increased our assets, which is awesome, and has also allowed us now to do adult rowing at night time, just have-a-go sessions, and next year we will be increasing our numbers.”
How much can it continue to grow?
“I think it has the potential to at least get another 50% next year and then just keep building on, as the results come through.
“If we start getting some wins, people will get enthusiastic and that will encourage them to want to be part of it too.”
What other sports have grown in popularity at the school?
“We’ve got about 80 kids consistently doing adventure racing. We do the big Kaikoura adventure race they do up there, and we had 60 last year to do that.
“It’s really great, the students just really enjoy it, and we live in a perfect spot to do all of that, and we have very good parental support as well.”
