Apart from character development, team building, skill improvement and pure fun, sport competitions bring economic benefit to the region.
The recent Arena Gym Youth Futsal Tournament ending 19 July attracted 76 teams playing 250 matches across six divisions (U9 to U15) at Rodney Green Arenas. Teams (and families) came from 10 different NZ cities from 20 different clubs or academies — Auckland, Hamilton, Gisborne, Tauranga, Mt Manganui, Rotorua, Taupo, Palmerston North, Wellington and Christchurch.
Plus six teams from Australia – with over 100 in the touring party including parents from all over Australia.
An awards ceremony concluded the event, with these Divisional highlights:
- U13 Boys: Crowned Ocean Orthodontics HB Futsal as Champions, with Titans Futsal Hades as runners-up. Jack Gordon took Golden Gloves, Cooper Corbett won Golden Boot (12 goals), and Diego de Carvalho was named MVP.
- U11 Division: Crowned Samba Futsal Academy as Champions, followed by the Marist Mavericks. Archie Langford (Golden Gloves), Asher Barnes (Golden Boot with 27 goals), and Layton Palmer (MVP) claimed individual honors.
- General Age Groups: The competition also included highly anticipated games for the U9 Mixed, U11 Mixed, and both boys and girls U13 and U15 divisions.
In addition to all the personal well-being benefits, according to NCC’s Kevin Murphy the competition yielded over $400,000 in net benefit to the region over three days.
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