Grandstand earns Te Puke Sports the nod
| Author | Stuart Whitaker |
| Published date | 04 November 2021 |
| Publication title | Te Puke Times |
Judges were impressed with Te Puke Sports’ nomination, which included details of the installation of its new grandstand to help increase sporting engagement in the Te Puke community.
Te Puke Sport and Recreation Club president Ash Peat says it’s always pleasing to be recognised “for doing something right”.
“There are some good nominees out there but we are happy to have our hat in the ring,” he says.
Many people were involved in the grandstand’s development and securing the funding to make it happen.
“The guys did an amazing driving-force job. It’s pretty good to have people like that involved and driving the club,” says Ash.
He says the grandstand fits with the club’s philosophy of providing facilities for the community to use.
“So the more it’s used, the better.”
The awards are run by Sport Bay of Plenty. Sports manager Nick Chambers co-ordinated the judges.
“The club has been working closely with local business to develop the grandstand, the idea behind it being the expansion of the services they can offer and the opportunities they can offer to the community in a sporting context.
“The development of the grandstand enables quite a lot of different groups to be able to hold more events and to have more capacity to be able to deliver to the community.”
He says providing those opportunities will encourage more community members to be active through sport and recreation, and that is something that resonates with Sport Bay of Plenty. “General community wellbeing is obviously a priority for them, and for us.”
Nick says there were 12 organisations nominated for the community organisation of the year category.
“There are a lot of people trying to do a lot of things for their community. In reality, all 12 nominations were worthy of being finalists but you’ve got to whittle it down somehow — the development of that grandstand, from where it’s been to where it is going, was one of the things that made [Te Puke Sports’ nomination] it stand out.”
There are over 40 finalists for the awards, including junior athletes, Olympians and Paralympians, coaches and community...
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