New Zealand school children will be able to meet, interact with, and learn from Olympians in their own homes, as the NZOC’s Olympic Ambassador Programme moves online.
The Ambassador Programme usually sees Olympians visit schools around the country in person, but it’s going digital due to Covid-19.
NZOC Education Manager Rob Page has been working with Olympic Ambassadors to put together interactive online presentations, which can be beamed straight into children’s homes.
“Our Ambassadors normally visit around 40-thousand Kiwi school kids in person each year. They tell the children stories about their careers and they run activities which inspire the kids to chase their dreams and live healthy active lifestyles," said Page.
“The visits are hugely beneficial for the children with the athletes teaching them about wellbeing and delivering educational outcomes, so we’re working with our athletes to move the presentations online and make them available to children's parents through our Facebook page.”
The series kicks off tomorrow (Thursday, April 16th) at 11.00am, with Commonwealth Games gold medallist Richie Patterson presenting live for 30 minutes on the NZ Olympic Team Facebook page. Richie will present on the theme of resilience, inspiring with talks about his own Olympic journey and also getting the audience up and active with an exercise or two.
During lockdown, an Olympic Ambassador will present live on the NZOC Facebook page every Tuesday and Thursday at 11am. Each one will have a values-based theme. Next Tuesday (April 21st), current Black Sticks star, Brooke Neal, will inspire on the theme of excellence, or being the best you can be.
“Being an ambassador is great because you get to inspire kids to lead better lives,” said Olympian Richie Patterson.
“Hopefully going online will let us reach even more kids at a time where it’s really important to be connecting with our rangatahi.”
The presentations are aimed at primary and intermediate age students. The link for parents to stream is www.facebook.com/nzolympicteam
The Olympic Ambassador Programme is funded through the Sir Owen Glenn Olympic Legacy.
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