Maia Lewis is all about getting young people active

I always knew I wanted to be involved in sport but back then, it meant going to Otago University. Big problem. Women's cricket was crap down there and all the NZ players were in Christchurch. Then in my last year at school, Christchurch College of Education came out with a new course, a four year Secondary School PE degree. Problem solved!

My first job was teaching PE and Maori at Hutt Valley High. Teaching the ones who didn’t want to be there wasn’t fun. It was a great time in my life though. I was captaining the White Ferns, training before and after work with games on the weekend. I also started coaching. My time management skills are pretty good as a result! NZ cricket has come a long way to become professional. It’s a pathway that wasn’t there when I was competing. We’re still at least 5-10 years behind other countries like India and Australia though.

I’ve had some amazing jobs in cricket. I’ve run women’s cricket in Auckland and was the first coach for the Samoan women’s cricket team. But one of the coolest jobs I’ve had was as a Disability Sport Advisor, getting physically disabled young people into sport. It’s the joy you see on their faces because instead of watching from the side, they’re in amongst it, doing stuff with their families. I developed an adapted water sports programme across NZ, making sports like surfing, paddleboarding and waka ama accessible. So if you see a chair on a paddleboard or a beach wheelchair, that’s a bit of my legacy! Sadly, the organisation I worked for changed in a way that didn’t align with my values. You have two choices - tow the line or get out. I chose to get out.

Now I’m a schools and kura manager for a regional sports trust in Counties Manukau. It’s still about getting tamariki and rangatahi active and into sport but now I’m managing a team that provides professional development for teachers and community links. A lot of primary and intermediate teachers aren’t confident to take kids out for PE because until recently, private sector providers have been funded to do that. Now that money isn’t available so it’s back on the teachers. We help the teachers with simple ways to get kids active. We even go into healthy eating. In an area of high deprivation, I’m really excited about the impact our work could have, if we get it right.

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