Ama auahi kore – Nic Nominate

Ama auahi kore – Nic Nominate

Auckland
Cessation
Public Support
Co-ordinator: 
Name: 
Boyd Broughton
Telephone: 
021 915 107

Goals and objectives

Project goals

  • Parental Smokefree Leadership to reduce the initiation of tobacco smoking
  • Smokefree parents and supporters
  • Healthy nutrition introduced to the club, parents and supporters.

Project objectives

  • Solicit supported quit attempts from parents of the Waitakere Waka Ama Club
  • Challenge other Waka Ama Clubs via a ‘Nic Nominate’ social media challenge
  • Promote healthy kai during Waka Ama Sprint Nationals 2015
  • Waitakere Waka Ama is part of the Waitakere Outrigger Canoe Club
  • Member is made up of predominantly Māori and Pacific.

Target audience

Target audience

  • Parents and supporters of Māori and Pacific tamariki from the Waitakere Waka Ama club.

Total registered members: 105

  • Adults: 38
  • Tamariki: 67

Project fit with 2025 aims

We contributed to the Smokefree Aotearoa 2025 goal by attempting to decrease initiation, increase cessation and initiate a Smokefree Policy for Waitakere Waka Ama.

What happened

February 2014. Jeanine Tamati-Paratene from Whakawhetū and myself (Boyd Broughton from ASH) suggested Waitākere Waka Ama parents who smoke form a team of 10 people to participate in the WERO Stop Smoking Challenge starting in April 2014. While there was initial interest from some parents, there was little uptake and actual registration – so it was thought we would revisit the idea for the September 2014 competition.

August 2014. Jeanine and I then discussed with the Head Coach and the Junior Coordinator of the club if the club might be interested in pursuing a Smokefree direction for the benefit of the tamariki.
This was just to gauge the interest of the club management prior to trying anything with the club members.
It also served as another opportunity to reignite interest from parents who smoke in the WERO Stop Smoking Challenge due to start in September 2014. Once again, initial interest waned when it came time to register 10 people as a team. Jeanine and I did not give up and continued to volunteer any information when asked about methods to stop smoking and how we might be able to support our kids.

October 2014. As I was heavily involved in the Stoptober campaign last year I took the opportunity to strongly provide the club with stop smoking information and provide opportunities for those parents who might be interested to register online and participate either supported OR unsupported in the Stoptober challenge. We had an some interest with a number of people expressing interest, discussing stop smoking strategies, take home readings and trial some of the NRT options. A positive month.

November 2014. January 2015. These months our juniors trained daily through the kids holidays in preparation for the Waka Ama National Sprint Champs at Lake Karāpiro, during this time it was suggested by some of our tamariki to once again support their parents to healthy smokefree living and challenge other Waka Ama clubs to do the same.
With some weekend trainings and meetings occurring in the lead up to 2015 Waka Ama Sprint Nationals at Lake Karapiro, Cambridge. Monday 12th Jan – Saturday 17th Jan 2015.
During the Waka Ama Sprint Nationals 2015, our junior teams amassed an impressive medal tally:

  • J-16’s and J-19’s winning several gold medals for the team events and
  • Our individual athletes winning a large number of gold, silver and bronze medals to end the weekl

While winning medals is not our sole purpose, it lends credibility to our Auahi Kore message

February 2015. We reconfirmed with the club committee at the Club Meeting that the club would like to establish a Smokefree Zone for ALL club members from the Playground on Bridge Ave onwards. This was met without resistance.
It was agreed there would be no policy, just a strong agreement from our tamariki and once that has 100% compliance, a policy could be introduced much easier. People before policy was the thinking on this – it is an experimental approach and we will evaluate it’s merit in the coming months.
Filming commenced throughout this month to launch our Nic-Nominate videos during World Smokefree May 2015. Encouraging other clubs to become ‘Smokefree’ and trying to create a social movement of sorts that will benefit our tamariki in EVERY waka ama club throughout NZ.

March 2015. This was a monitor and maintenance period. Several things happened during these months.
Trainings returned to being nightly with Jeanine and I participating in Novice nights to introduce ourselves to the activity our five tamariki have been participating in for the last 12 months and more. This also afforded us the opportunity to continue the support of those who smoke within the club.
Recruitment continued for the upcoming WERO Smokefree Challenge to start in April 2015.
It was decided to team up with Te Kura Kaupapa Māori o Te Kōtuku for this challenge as finding ten fully committed parents from Waitākere Waka Ama was proving a challenge on its own. It is hoped that with a core number of people from the club that those who were wanting to stop smoking but not committing to the WERO challenge will be encouraged by their peers to commit. A plan that is starting to bear fruit now with five of our members signed up to stop smoking as part of a combined WERO Team, Waitākere Warriors, and with their whānau and friends all supporting by making a quit attempt with them also. A massive outcome.
Filming was also continued throughout this month to launch our Nic-Nominate videos during World Smokefree May 2015. Encouraging other clubs to become ‘Smokefree’ and trying to create a social movement of sorts that will benefit our tamariki in EVERY waka ama club throughout NZ.

April 2015. Nic-Nominate in the final stages of getting some more footage and editing. Pretty exciting. We hope to release these challenges in the first week of May and will be trying our best to get some media support from Te Kāea and Te Kārere on Māori TV and TV One.
We also will be utilising our Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/groups/176713839051652/ to promote our challenge and the other footage of our videos as well as our club newsletter.
We have actually decided to take the opportunity to utilise some of the footage to promote Waka Ama in general as a positive healthy action to keep our people living Smokefree.
As mentioned earlir, we have our five club members attending weekly meetings as part of their WERO team, Waitākere Warriors and at our last discussion, they were proceeding very well with great results for the early weeks, we hope they continue and look forward to other members in the club seeking and utilising the Stop Smoking support available.
We also got permission from Six60 to utilise their music into our video. Hopefully they will retweet our video/s once completed.

Partners

  • Te Ara Hā Ora
  • Action on Smoking & Health (ASH)
  • WERO Stop Smoking Challenge.

Key outcomes

  • The club is smokefree with a smokefree policy
  • Five club members registered as part of a WERO team
  • To date, there has been100% compliance with our decision to make our club smokefree with parents making an effort to not smoke at our gatherings
  • Huge pride from our tamariki of their now smokefree parent/s.

Key learnings

What worked well?

  • WERO team formation and weekly gatherings
  • Nic Nominate video shooting
  • NRT conversations

What could be done differently?

We were unable to coordinate well enough with the Quit Bus and NZ Heart Foundation so Boyd Broughton from Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) NZ delivered the cessation messages and nutritional advice on their behalf

Project material

 

 

Page last updated: 23 Mar 2016