This Thursday the competitive spirit of the Aranui Academy will come out in force when the talented youngsters take on the Canterbury Wizards at a game of Kili Kiti to celebrate Polyfest.
After a chance to show off their skills the Kili Kiti players and Wizards will take part in a DARE Programme which is run by the New Zealand police. Canterbury Cricket and the Wizards formed a partnership with DARE this season and players have accompanied the Police Education Officers into various schools in Christchurch to help them deliver the DARE programme and support the messages the programme communicates such as making good decisions and anti bullying.
This Thursday will be the final appearance by the wizards as part of the DARE Programme at Aranui High School for the local Polyfest, which is the school’s Polynesian festival which runs throughout the week to promote and celebrate the Polynesian culture.
The Wizards will take on the Aranui Academy in a game of Kili Kiti, Polynesian Cricket, during the lunch hour and will follow this up by spending some time with the students looking at the Kia Kaha programme, which aims to help schools create environments where all members of the school community feel safe, respected and valued and where bullying cannot flourish.
Canterbury Wizards coach Bob Carter said it is a great chance for the players to interact with young talented individuals and address some major topics at the same time. 'We are all very well aware of Aranui's excellent sporting history in a range of different sports. It will be good to see some cricket played at the school and for the Wizards to be a part of it,” he said. “The values we as a team try to uphold work in well with the initiatives the DARE programme brings to Canterbury Schools and we are grateful to be involved.”
