Public Interest Journalism funded through NZ On Air
A new CrossFit competition for high school students has been created to introduce the next generation of athletes to the sport.
The event, organised by concept owner Patrick Petelo at Eden Park over Easter, attracted up to 200 student athletes from various high schools, gyms, and sporting groups across the country.
“I thought this up about 12 months ago. Thought that it would be awesome to introduce youth to the sport of CrossFit,” says Petelo.
In keeping with CrossFit’s traditional fitness methods, the competition was deliberately structured to push the young athletes to their limits through bodyweight and Olympic exercises.
This was the second event of the College Games, following a test pilot in 2022. Pacific-led organisation Butterbean Motivation came onto this year’s programme accompanied by other fitness sponsors such as Solid Strength, Rebel Sport, Reebok and Sore Performance.
The event had a positive influence on the young athletes, contributing to their participation rates in active sports. Houston Noema, the head programmer, was proud to be a part of it.
“As long as they walk off here smiling, they might be a little tired but then we’ve done our job well,” he says.
The young competitors were keen to embrace the physical challenge, with one participant commenting that it was nerve-wracking at first but worth it in the end.
Being the first event of its kind in the world, Patrick Petelo hopes to expand the initiative and create more events for future generations.
With the support of sponsors, he plans to reach out to more schools and promote participation in CrossFit, saying the College Games has inspired young athletes to embrace their full, physical potential and he has high hopes of seeing it at a global level.
