the shopping centre had been \u201cbustling\u201d<\/a> with athletes and supporters all week.<\/p>\n\u201cThe event brings a valuable boost in energy to the centre, making it one of the most exciting weeks of the year.\u201d<\/p>\n
On the final day of the event, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon dropped into Blake Park, where teams were playing rugby, netball, and hockey.<\/p>\n
He was accompanied by Tauranga MP Sam Uffindell and Bay of Plenty MP Tom Rutherford.<\/p>\n
The National Party trio met competitors and had a go on the kiwifruit juicing bikes outside event sponsor Zespri\u2019s tent.<\/p>\n
![\"(L-R):]()
(L-R): Prime Minister Christopher Luxon, Tauranga MP Sam Uffindel and Bay of Plenty MP Tom Rutherford at the final day of Aims Games. Photo \/ Alan Gibson<\/p>\n
Rutherford, who competed in Aims as a child, said the tournament was massive and he loved coming down to see what had been going on.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe energy and vibes here have been amazing, and everybody participating has just done an amazing job. I hope all the kids have had a wonderful week as well.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said this year\u2019s tournament would surpass the $8 million generated for Tauranga\u2019s economy last year, with more participants and more visitors to the region.<\/p>\n
\u201cI know there are lots of other places across the country who would love to have the Aims Games come to their patch, but this isn\u2019t going anywhere; this is in Tauranga\u2019s blood.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mayor Mah\u00e9 Drysdale joined the MPs, and was quizzed by one young contestant about whether he had competed in any sports, and if so, whether he played at Aims Games.<\/p>\n
The former Olympic rowing champion explained he had played a bit of sport, but the event was not around in his youth.<\/p>\n
Drysdale told the Bay of Plenty Times the Aims Games were a great event for the economy, but the best thing was watching children get involved and supporting teammates.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m from a sporting background, so it\u2019s hugely beneficial getting them off the couch and out being active, obviously for their health and mental wellbeing.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said it was awesome to see such a great event that teaches youth some \u201cgreat lessons\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is not the Olympics; it\u2019s about getting out there and having fun, and we love being the host.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kaitlyn Morrell<\/a> is a multimedia journalist for the Bay of Plenty Times and Rotorua Daily Post. She has lived in the region for several years and studied journalism at Massey University.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Matthew Strange, Mount Hot Pools manager and head of aquatics at Baywave, said both venues had 100% been…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4868,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[836,74,4886,95,2082,6491,6489,111,139,69,90,6492,213,1227,223,810,6493,686,6490],"class_list":["post-4867","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-836","tag-after","tag-aims","tag-and","tag-for","tag-frantic","tag-games","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-on","tag-retailers","tag-sports","tag-tauranga","tag-the","tag-up","tag-venues","tag-week","tag-wraps"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4867","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4867"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4867\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4868"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4867"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4867"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4867"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}