WELCOME HOME: Lisa Carrington parades through crowded Whakatane streets with her Olympic medals. D4275-092
WHAKATANE’S most successful Olympian says participation is a big part of the New Zealand sports fabric.
Triple Olympic medallist Lisa Carrington, just a month removed from claiming gold and bronze at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics, said sport is important at all levels.
“Although I represent the aspect of competitive and elite sport, I have a huge appreciation for those who participate and enjoy sport. As New Zealanders sport is in our blood.
“There are many benefits to participating in sport, which includes health. The benefit of sport is also the sense of a community where values such as respect and honesty are important. I am passionate about New Zealanders’ health and wellbeing and I believe sport and being active is one pathway to promote this.”
Earlier this week, Sport Bay of Plenty chief executive Heidi Lichtwark spoke about the value of a medal and the large cost of high performance sport.
“In the sport and recreation sector we also heard about how much community sport, targeting the people who don’t win medals, could achieve with the same amount of investment.
“There were people suggesting that the investment into high performance sport would be better spent just getting the New Zealand population more active.”
Lichtwark said it is was crucial that sport was encouraged at all levels.
“I’m not sure this type of debate ever has a happy ending.
“In my mind, it’s a good platform for discussion and sharing of ideas. But there can’t be just one answer.
“We want the country to be active – involved in sport, recreation and just physical movement. It’s good for us, we make great friends, it keeps our brains active and it’s fun.
“Winning medals creates that wonderful elation, national pride and inspiration and it shows the world what New Zealand can do. The high performance sport system also provides a pathway for those who are talented sports people.
“It makes us believe that through hard work goals can be achieved.”
Lichtwark said feedback from Sport Bay of Plenty consultation showed people needed to experience the benefits of being physically active.
“One of the main pieces of feedback we received was that being active is fun.
“The other theme was that the social connections from being active is the strongest reason for staying involved. We make and keep mates when we’re active, we chat and we process information more readily.
“We could even choose between medals and mates. It’s an over-simplification, but one that might provide some clarity.”