Play is a term that can refer, stereotypically, to the fun activities that children take part in. However, regardless of age, young people and adults all need to ‘play’ more.

In a young people context, play is not only about ensuring that they are active but it also helps them to develop socially, emotionally and cognitively.  Play allows young people to experience fun, joy and laughter in a way that is important to them. It’s also where they develop and practice life skills.

Despite this, Sport NZ reports that play in New Zealand is under threat. Evidently, there are a whole lot of Kiwi kids who aren’t having the same playful upbringing that was enjoyed by previous generations.

While this may increasingly be the case, the students at Rodney College are effectively bucking the trend.   When no whanau competitions or sports practices are scheduled, students can be found all over the school organising their own basketball, soccer games and physical activities.  Equipment is either brought from home or checked out of the PE department.   “It’s a fallacy that you have to provide organised activities for kids to be active at lunchtime,” says Sport Coordinator, Maria Northin, “They are quite capable of initiating their games themselves.”

Provided the weather plays its part, at lunchtime the fields and the playing spaces are alive with students being busy – they are playing. The positive benefits these students are getting mirror those suggested by Sport NZ – they are improving their social and emotional connections; they are improving their resilience, independence and leadership because they are determining their own outcomes; their decision-making based around the elements of challenge and risk are being aided; and quite simply by being physically active in a fun way they are developing fundamental movement skills.

While they are good at play, Rodney College students are also regular participants in championship events that are part of the ASB Northland Secondary School Sports calendar. The school enters their students in at least 25 events over the course of a school year. Their school representation statistics, as provided by the NZSSSC Census, is 53%, currently higher than the Northland average of 45%.

Play is at the heart of young people learning to have a life-long love of sport and it is also just one of the ingredients in creating Sport Northland’s vision to have all Northlanders leading better lives through involvement in sport. All young people need the time, space and permission to play and Rodney College is demonstrating that it really can be done.