Two-thousand five-hundred school children took part in a four week 'Activation Spectacular' programme at the Selwyn Sports and Aquatic centres.
The programme is run by the Selwyn Sports Trust who partnered with local sport providers to offer local children twenty different sports, from traditional sports like hockey, badminton and volleyball through to more unique offerings like hungerball and elastics.
Selwyn Sports Trust general manager Doug McSweeney said the programme had grown year by year.
"I think the opportunity for us is to give these young people a chance to try sports or physical activities they don't normally get a chance to try."
McSweeney said this year the trust collaborated with other agencies to offer parasport activities for the first time.
"The opportunity around these activities is to give tamariki a chance to try things they haven't tried. But also an opportunity for those that might be not as confident and don't have a sporting ability, the confidence to try something new and different".
The 'Activator' programme started as a pilot in 2016 with just two primary schools and has now grown to include 26 Selwyn area primary schools.
"The trust is all about connecting with the community, bringing them together so they can meet other people and be active together because nothing builds physical activity like that connection around community."
The trust's next big project is hosting the three-day South Island Koru Games for year 7 and 8 students this September.
- Geoff Sloan, Public Interest Journalism funded through NZ On Air
