Oromahoe School in Northland has been announced as the first recipient of a $10,000 sports grant from AA Insurance’s Big Little Sponsorship, with support from Eden Park Trust.
Due to the lockdown, the winner of the insurer’s annual sponsorship programme for primary schools was announced during a virtual event. The students gathered in their schoolhouses for the event, which featured a pre-recorded video from former All Black Keven Mealamu, AA Insurance head of brand and marketing Melodie Vickars and Eden Park CEO Nick Sautner. The children were also treated to a catered morning tea.
The competition received more than 3,200 nominations from 771 primary schools across the country.
“Most nominations we received for Oromahoe mentioned that they currently have a makeshift bamboo goalpost set up, courtesy of the community, after their previous goalpost disintegrated,” Vickars said. “They would love to get a proper goal set up, not only for the school, but for the whole community to use for sports practice and on the weekends.”
This year’s competition is the first that was open to the entirety of New Zealand, with the winning South Island primary school to be announced after the October school holidays. One teacher from each winning school will receive an “Ultimate Eden Park Experience” to acknowledge their commitment.
“It’s good for kids to play sport; they talk to people and learn to work together,” said Mealamu, who has been involved in the campaign since 2018. “They also learn respect for their teammates and opposition. And they learn that it takes hard work to achieve something worth achieving. The Big Little Sponsorship is a cool way to champion sport in schools and help invigorate the passion for sport.”
