Let’s connect schools and communities to the football action

Help tamariki discover career pathways in sport

The FIFA Women's World Cup 2023™ is coming to Aotearoa for the first time in 2023, bringing the world’s top football players to our shores and giving us a front-row seat to the action.

This is a great opportunity to show students all the exciting careers in sport beyond being a professional athlete through Inspiring the Future events.

If you work in sport – whether it’s a paid or unpaid role – we’d love you to volunteer as an Inspiring the Future role model. You’ll be invited to in-person or online events where you join a panel of people who work in sport. You’ll talk about your job, why you love it and how you got there.

Sign up to be a role model

If you work at a school – register your interest to host a sports-themed Inspiring the Future event for your students. We’ll be in touch soon with more information and other opportunities to inspire your students during the FIFA Women's World Cup 2023™.

Email us to register your interest

We’re also running a webinar Thursday 1 June for teachers to learn how to host Inspiring the Future events in the lead up to the FIFA Women's World Cup 2023™.

Find out more and register for the webinar

Why is it important for tamariki to learn about the mahi in sport?

Our Drawing the Future research (2019) discovered that 18 percent of tamariki aged 7 to 13 aspire to be a professional sportsperson as their future job. This is the most popular job by a long way – the next most popular job is vet at 6%.

Clearly our tamariki are interested in sport, but they don’t know about all the other ways they can be involved in sport when they’re older, both paid and unpaid.

A “career” includes all the mahi a person does in their life. That includes volunteer roles. In Aotearoa New Zealand, most of the sporting industry is propped up by volunteers. It’s estimated that some 500,000 do unpaid work for sport, around ten times the number of paid workers.

It’s important to show young people that all of the mahi a person does contributes to their own well-being, their skills and the community.

A hand-drawn picture of a Silver Fern on a netball court. The picture is very colourful. The Silver Fern is smiling and sweating. The artist, who was a child taking part in the Drawing the Future research, has annotated the netball court with the positions of the various players.

Drawing the Future research, 2019

 

Find out more about being an Inspiring the Future role model.

Find out more about hosting an Inspiring the Future event for your students.