Ki o Rahi Festivals 

Primary Sport Wellington (PSW) is excited to advise the membership that for the first time it will be offering Ki o Rahi Festivals thanks to funding received from New Zealand Community Trust (NZCT).

PSW will be contracting Kelly Sports to deliver these KoR Festivals.

Due to tight timelines for promotion, identifying suitable dates, booking venues and for schools to register teams, in total 21 schools manged to register teams.  This represents exactly 1/3 of the total PSW membership entering teams into the inaugural Ki o Rahi Festivals.

Unfortunately this warranted the organisation of 3 seperate Ki o Rahi offerings to be organised instead of the anticipated 6 KoR Festival offerings.

The Western and Central KoR Festivals will have both Years 5 & 6 and 7 & 8 grades to be offered while the Northern KoR Festival will be open to Year 5 & 6 teams only.   

I am convinced that the game of Ki o Rahi will grow in popularity and the demand for this type of event could be as large in demand as the PSW/Capital Football FUTSAL offerings ... especially with planned teacher training workshops and in school delivery of KoR in 2024.  I know a lot of schools were hesitant to register teams this year, as their understanding of the game was limited and they thought it was only for competitive teams to compete.

Overall I am very pleased that 1/3 of the PSW membership participated in the inaugural KoR Festivals with approximately 500 children participating.  

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PSW Western Zone Schools Ki o Rahi Festival 

Tues 19 March

Karori Park 

9 Schools, registered 24 teams across the 2 grades with schools from the Western suburbs taking part St Teresa's, Karori West, Otari, Wadestown and Makara Model and schools from Eastern, Northern and Southern Suburbs registering teams i.e.TKKM Mokopuna, Kahurangi, St Anne's, St Benedict's School's.

A fantastic event played under challenging conditions due to the cold Southerlies and regular showers experienced throughout the day. Children and adults alike endured the weather conditions as it really was 4 seasons in a day.  It was very satisfying to see everyone playing and learning the game of Ki o Rahi and the spirit in which the students interacted with each other under challenging weather conditions was simply amazing.

Thank you to the Kelly Sport referees for encouraging the children and explaining the rules during games.  It was very pleasing to see the children enjoying themselves and their understanding of this game of KoR and game tactics improve as the day progressed.

PSW Northern Zone Schools Ki o Rahi Festival 

Tues 26 March

Nairnville Park 

7/14 PSW Northern Zone Schools registered teams in the Year 5 & 6 Ki o Rahi Festival, with 14 teams competing against each other. 

Weather conditions were perfect, no wind and the sun was shinning.  Some of the schools in attendance this was their first exposure to KoR and it was fantastic to see the improved students tactics and game play improve after each game and as the day progressed.

PSW Central Zone Schools Ki o Rahi Festival 

Tues 9 April

McCalister Park

5 / 10 PSW Central Zone Schools registered with 18 teams in total playing four games each.

Weather conditions and the day was perfect with teams enbracing the opportunity to come together and play Ki o Rahi.  Fantastic sportsmanship and behaviours were observed throughout the day with teachers in attendance already expressing that they want to attend this event next year.

SINCERE thank you to Mark at Kelly Sports for providing the staff to make these Ki o Rahi Festivals happen.  Your staff who refereed each game were simply AMAZING and contributed to the overall positive experience and enjoyment for the students and this has reflected in the feedback received from each KoR Festival.

HUGE thank you to New Zealand Community Trust (NZCT) for providing funding to allow PSW to engage Kelly Sports to deliver these Ki o Rahi Festivals.  Without this funding Primary Sport Wellington would not be in a position to offer this opportunity and positive sporting experience to the students in its schools.