Harbour Sport's ActivAsian project has recently won the Community Impact Award presented at the 2012 New Zealand Sport and Recreation Awards.
Every year individuals and organisations throughout the country make outstanding contributions to the sport and recreation sector. Through their vision and determination they raise standards and break new ground for the benefit of the stakeholders they serve. Harbour Sport’s ActivAsian project proved that they were able to excel in all of these areas, significantly impacting their community in superior fashion.
The changing demographics on the North Shore prompted Harbour Sport to target better engagement with the large and growing Asian community. Joining forces with the Waitemata District Health Board (DHB), Harbour Sport networked with Chinese and Korean community groups then, sharing information and resources, began to better promote sport and recreation opportunities utilising Chinese and Korean languages and media. They accomplished all this with sensitivity to cultural differences within the respective communities. Collaborating with eight Regional Sport Organisations the project was able to reduce barriers for Asians to engage in sport and work towards making sporting environments more welcoming to people of all ethnicities. As a result of this project, the sports involved have seen increased participation in their sports from the Asian communities. The project has been carefully documented to allow the ActivAsian project to be easily applied to other ethnic communities.
Harbour Sport's ActivAsian team works in partnership with Auckland/North Harbour for golf, badminton, netball, petanque, volleyball, squash, tennis, rhythmic gymnastics and the Waitemata DHB. Also working alongside Harbour Sport to engage and promote the ActivAsian project were Ethnic Affairs, ARPASS and ASB Community Trust.
The New Zealand Sport and Recreation Awards have been highlighting outstanding sports organisations for four years with Harbour Sport having four finalists over those years. Harbour Sport's ActivAsian won their award from among the largest amount of entries as well as the largest finalist group. This keen competition from many other excellent committed organisations across New Zealand makes receiving the award even more of an honour.
The awards dinner was held on 30 April 2012 at the New Zealand Sport and Recreation Awards Dinner at the Millennium Convention Centre in Rotorua. The purpose of the New Zealand Sport and Recreation Awards is to recognise and celebrate successes, to share best practice and inspire excellence.
The New Zealand Sport and Recreation Awards is a national event and the participants encompass the entire New Zealand sport and recreation sector. The list of entries are judged by Sir Wilson Whineray chairs the judging panel and is joined by former Sport Canterbury CEO, Olympian and Coach, Selwyn Maister; NZCT Chairman, Peter Dale; ANZ Head of Sponsorship, Sue McGregor; respected sport administrator, Sir John Wells; and Sport NZ Chief Executive, Peter Miskimmin.
This Sport New Zealand recognition demonstrates that Harbour Sport, ActivAsian and Harbour Regional Sport Organisations are leading the way nationwide in engaging the Asian community in sport, and providing equal sporting opportunities to this valuable community.