Courts needed to turn troubled youth around

At the age of 14, Glen Green says he was “a very angry young man” and on the verge of getting into serious trouble and joining a youth gang.

“I had been expelled from school and was going down the wrong path,” he says.

However, Glen, now aged 53, took a different path and went on to receive numerous awards from Council and community, culminating in the NZ Order of Merit, in 2018.

What turned things around for him was intervention by youth workers, and the building of a public basketball court.

“The first thing the youth workers did was nail a hoop to a post,” he says. “Basketball was big at the time, linked to American culture. A group of us started playing and we learned some discipline, had fun and were not hurting anyone else. We had found something to aim for and get better at.”

He went on to write to Auckland City Council, asking for a proper basketball court where youth could play – and says six months later the trucks rolled in and a full-sized court was built.

Council gave him a Good Citizen Award.

“That’s when I realised how powerful community can be, working together,” Glen says.

Glen, who now lives in Army Bay, went on to work as a community constable, where he saw a lot of youth crime.

“I felt like I was arresting myself,” he says. “What those young people were facing was all too familiar.”

Pointing young people in the right direction is a passion for him. He formed a charitable trust called There’s a Better Way, Hoops & Hope, and eventually left the police to continue that work.

“So, in 2010, I started building basketball courts instead of taking people to court!” he says.

The trust recently built its eighth court, obtaining support from Council and companies like Fulton Hogan and Airtime Hoops.

It was this model – using public basketball courts as an intervention for youth crime –that Glen put before the Hibiscus & Bays Local Board last month.

He wants to upgrade the local courts, and build new ones, to create a total of six full sized courts in Ōrewa, Stanmore Bay and Gulf Harbour. His aim is to have the project complete within three years, with community, Council, grant funders and business support.

He says since moving to the Coast, two years ago, he has seen the start of the enticement of youth into gang culture, are a proven way to counteract youth crime. Which is why he wants more of them on the Hibiscus Coast. recognising the signs from his time in Police.

“It’s easy for teens to get influenced and caught up in gangs and crime if you don’t have a solid foundation,” he says. “Sport is great in general, but basketball works with youth because it’s cool, there’s lots of music around it and the American NBA is massive. So why not utilise that for positive change?”

Glen says building and extending courts on the Coast needs to be a community project.

He started by receiving support from the local board, which heartily endorsed his vision at its June 27 meeting.

Glen says he can now take the next step, of seeking funding and sponsorship support for building more Coast courts. For more information, or to support the project, visit https://theresabetterwaynz.com/

From top, Kyan Darby loved his prize, but the best thing was sitting in the fire truck. Helen and Charlie Weaver at the station with senior firefighter Janette Baird and recruit firefighter Shonali Walter-Rao.

Raffles delivered to winners

Winners of a raffle at the Manly Fire Brigade’s superhero disco last month, were presented with their prizes by volunteer firefighters recently. Deputy chief fire officer Athol Conway drew the winners during the brigade’s Matariki celebrations. Helen and Charlie Weaver were twice as lucky, winning both first and second prizes. Rose-Marie Darby and her grandson Kyan took third place, which Rose said was a big thrill. An added bonus was that Kyan, who Rose-Marie says is “a bit obsessed with fire trucks” was able to sit in the truck. Prizes were donated by local businesses.

Manly resident Lynda O’Hara is hoping someone on the Hibiscus Coast may know the whereabouts of a model ship, made by her grandfather James (Jim) Holt.

Jim is thought to have taken up model making on retirement, and Lynda says he made either one, or several, impressive models of the Chilian tall ship Esmeralda

Lynda says she believes that her father, Trevor Holt, had the model when he moved to Whangaparāoa in 1980, following the breakup of his marriage to Lynda’s mum.

“He then moved to Motueka, around 1983, but his second wife said the Esmeralda didn’t come with him,” Lynda says. Her father died two years later.

Lynda was only a child when her grandfather died, and has little to go on in her search.

She says she knows it’s a long shot to find it, but the ship has sentimental value.

“One possibility is that it may have been given to someone, or to a local club. My father was keen on bowls and golf,” she says. “I have been looking for it for quite a few years. We bring out the photo album and look at it from time to time and wonder where the model is.”

If anyone has any information about the model, email Lynda on holtlm@hotmail.com

The community marae in Silverdale, Te Herenga Waka o Ōrewa, presented a proposal for its next step forward at the Hibiscus & Bays Local Board meeting on June 27.

Marae kaiwhakahaere (manager), Kereama Nathan, told local board members that the marae is financially sustainable, thanks to its core business of cultural and educational provision, but it needs to grow along with the community.

He was seeking the local board’s support for the long-term vision of building a Cultural Centre at the marae to provide for those increasing community needs, including an onsite health hub.

Kereama told members that the marae is currently navigating the resource consent process. They hope to be granted consent for the centre this year, after which they will be in a position to start formally costing the project.