{"id":556797,"date":"2026-08-02T23:44:08","date_gmt":"2026-08-02T23:44:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/556797\/"},"modified":"2026-08-02T23:44:08","modified_gmt":"2026-08-02T23:44:08","slug":"on-the-up-new-zealands-first-sporting-memories-club-marks-successful-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/556797\/","title":{"rendered":"On The Up: New Zealand\u2019s first Sporting Memories Club marks successful year"},"content":{"rendered":"

Co-director of the AUT Centre for Active Ageing<\/a>, associate professor Dr Richard Wright, helped bring Sporting Memories to New Zealand from the UK, where there are more than 150 clubs.<\/p>\n

He said sport and leisure are crucially important for people\u2019s mental, social and physical health, bringing people together in a unique way.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not just about sport. It\u2019s about belonging. It\u2019s about identity, laughter, and being seen. These moments fight loneliness. They spark joy. They build wh\u0101nau,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Wright said social isolation can be as bad for your health as smoking 15 cigarettes a day. <\/p>\n

\u201cResearch suggests that staying socially connected<\/a> can reduce the risk of early death by up to 50% and add an estimated seven years to your life expectancy.\u201d<\/p>\n

To get the Sporting Memories Clubs established in New Zealand, Wright found a group of local people was needed to help drive them.<\/p>\n

\"PhysicalPhysical limitations don’t stop Sporting Memories Kerikeri club members from getting competitive in a walking football game \u2013 just one of many activities enjoyed at the club.<\/p>\n

In Kerikeri, the club was started by Dementia Tai Tokerau<\/a> community advisor Philippa Cooper, who noticed people in the early stages of cognitive decline were socially isolated but too anxious to join an existing club.<\/p>\n

She was supported by chief executive Trudi Bridges, who knew Wright and his quest to bring Sporting Memories to New Zealand.<\/p>\n

Cooper pulled in volunteers, including club captain Chris Sicely, whose wife has dementia<\/a> and progressed from needing care at home to needing to be in permanent care.<\/p>\n

Cooper said while people with cognitive impairment were the initial focus of the club, it soon became important for their caregivers<\/a> to also connect and join in the fun.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s something that they can achieve and enjoy, when they\u2019re living with something that\u2019s not easy for them.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"KerikeriKerikeri Sporting Memories Club captain Chris Sicely (from left) and founder Philippa Cooper say they measure the club’s success in the smiles of members.<\/p>\n

The fortnightly club days include a morning tea \u2013 provided by sponsors Feast Cafe, Good Bitches Baking and Calypso Takeaways \u2013 followed by an activity such as competing in round-robin challenges<\/a>, learning tai chi or listening to a guest speaker.<\/p>\n

On alternate weeks, club members meet in Kerikeri for a walk, with the need for walking sticks, walkers and even motorised scooters no barrier to taking part.<\/p>\n

Cooper said the success of the club could be measured in the joy exhibited by club members.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is a lot of fun and it just puts a smile on their faces.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sicely said he enjoyed seeing members take part in activities, despite physical limitations he thought would stop them.<\/p>\n

\"Co-directorCo-director of the AUT Centre for Active Ageing, associate professor Dr Richard Wright, wants to help other communities set up Sporting Memories Clubs.<\/p>\n

He gave the example of walking football<\/a>, an adaptation of the beautiful game where no running or high kicks are allowed.<\/p>\n

Some club members needed walking sticks to play, but the games have still ended up being very competitive and highly enjoyed, Sicely said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t think half of them could still walk, let alone play … I\u2019ve come to understand that you can\u2019t pigeon-hole people.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wright, who helped set up Sporting Memories Aotearoa New Zealand as a charitable trust, now wants other communities to be inspired by Kerikeri and set up clubs in their area.<\/p>\n

A second club, in Auckland\u2019s Birkenhead, has just held its first meeting and Wright thought there was plenty of potential in other areas.<\/p>\n

Denise Piper is a news reporter<\/a> for the Northern Advocate, focusing on health and business. She has more than 20 years in journalism and is passionate about covering stories that make a difference.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Co-director of the AUT Centre for Active Ageing, associate professor Dr Richard Wright, helped bring Sporting Memories to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":556798,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[18836,20388,117827,1888,8619,1905,22638,9943,117,111,43,139,69,90,17216,13577,46453,3502,14907,223,810,379,2963],"class_list":["post-556797","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-club","tag-connection","tag-example","tag-first","tag-fun","tag-healing","tag-marks","tag-memories","tag-new","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-on","tag-powerful","tag-powers","tag-sporting","tag-success","tag-successful","tag-the","tag-up","tag-year","tag-zealands"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/556797","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=556797"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/556797\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/556798"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=556797"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=556797"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=556797"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}