[Music] it was mid June 1995 3:30 a.m. on a chilly winters morning seven-year-old me had hardly slipped that night his excitement raced through my body earlier my llama bleared at 2:55 a.m. now pounced out a beard as if it were Christmas Day my whole family was sleeping so as quietly as I could I fumbled around with the noisy back door lock I opened the door and I was off with one leap I cleared the three stairs might be a feet landing on the frosty lon and I sprinted as fast as I could a quick 30 meter dash to the back of that property as I approached the house at the other side of the lawn a light came on inside I skated up the stairs and frantically knocked on the door the curtains open and a man with a mustache in his 50s unlocked the door the door was opening too slowly for my liking so I gave it some assistance forcing it open even quicker as I entered there was a heater burning inside at 60% I rolled in like I own the place turn the heater up to full as the old man gave me a cup of hot chocolate I turned on the television to hear the familiar sound of Keith Quinn's voice and the national anthems of New Zealand and England we were of course watching the All Blacks New Zealand's national rugby team playing the semi-final of the Rugby World Cup even as a seven-year-old boy I could name every single member of their all-black starting team my favorite Patsy Goldie Osbourne when we was changing the face of rugby at that time but for me the biggest hero of them all was one particular man called zan zan Brock then he was an amazing player he had all the skills and no weaknesses it was very much a poor loser but I liked that about him when I was even in my eyes zili could do no wrong and apart from my Emily Zini was my hero it was about 3:30 a.m. on that fateful morning when Zhen Zhen Brooke drop kicked a rugby ball from 40 meters out in the semi-final of a rugby World Cup now proceeding to defeat for any Ford and rugby that moment and how I felt in that moment will live with me for many years yet no what does a child have if a child doesn't have dreams for their future heroes they one day want to emulate every child should have dreams for what they one day want to become in achieve every child is impression every child is heavily influenced by the nurture and environment for those children who are lucky enough to grow up from privileged families they have the opportunity to watch sport on television whilst watching that sport they start to look up to the players they are watching they start to imagine themselves when they playing on television in front of large crowds they start to develop a love for sport and with a healthy lifestyle fast for to 2004 from watch out for another memory that I'd like to share with you I still remember making the first tackle it was a big smash them was an even better physics and I won but I got lucky the rest of their teenage team weighing in at over 100 kg each they would go laughs through out David it felt like professionals miss images the last time we meet these guys was only two weeks prior and they wipe the floor with us with the first thing of defeating the screams of our coach JC and Kelly roaring in areas we recouped together we identified our weaknesses and strengthened our faith in each other's abilities now on a sunny day in August in front of a screaming crowd we're rallying to face these Giants stamp on this game I remember coach Brian Higgins roaring at his team of 22 young boys I thought to myself I am I see we were learning the meaning of camaraderie out there on the rugby field there was no prejudice there was no social rape racial cultural or language inequalities it was a test of your character your courage your preparation your cooperation and your skill that's what mattered we won the championship that day but the lessons that I took away from that event were far greater than any trophy the lessons of leadership humility teamwork and respect ones that would stay with me into adulthood they stayed with me as rugby taught me to live in San Francisco and London whereas also ever work in sales and innovation and make lifelong friends from different parts of the world those lessons remain with me as I've moved back to New Zealand please pass on the gift of empowerment and drive change you see today I work in a Purpose Driven organization called the waterboy waterboy works to break down barriers to give Kiwis an opportunity to participate in sport at this point I do want to acknowledge that sport isn't the only method for achieving some of the benefits that I've discussed but it's what I'm passionate about so that's what I focus on I believe that every Kiwi should have the opportunity to participate in sport Sport gives us friendship and teaches us lessons which help shape our character in this sense it's a large part of what makes up the fabric of New Zealand society sport gives us mutual health benefits physical health benefits leadership skills social skills interpersonal skills self confidence self esteem self motivation not only those self things it breaks down social barriers to give us respect for others other races religions people from different culture cultures in different sectors of society Sport brings friends and family together the ride the emanates from a parent when they watch their child participate in sport can't really be described in words today there are thousands of Kiwis who wish they could participate in sport but they are unable it breaks my heart I think this sucks always ask the kids I work with who their favorite players are only about 10% of them can even name a current representative in their sport I've asked 19 nipple girls to name me their favorite Silver Fern a national netball team one of the 19 was able to do so that was because that player had visited her school see without the means to watch sport these children never had the opportunity to witness the unique atmosphere of top-level sport the same atmosphere which captures the imagination of privileged children prompting them to dream and do the same atmosphere which made me want to play rugby on the front Warner any given opportunity pretending hours in Zen brought the kids I work with they'll give supported go because it's fun and because it's cool but without the opportunity to develop those sporting dreams heroes desperations they're far more likely to give up on sport even if they only have one bad experience but when these kids do participate in sport it can quite literally change the course of their lives avoids with many kids whose lives have now taken a different direction and a lot of what's their tribute to participating in sport well she would be one of those examples when I first started working with Raiden he's aged 14 he'd been asked to leave his previous high school for behavior in attendance issues and he was a 50% of team that said his new hospital hit a group of friends and together they would hang out after school looking for trouble mainly out of boredom he's no purpose no goals nothing to be proud of since starting boxing Raiden's has become part of a new team and part of a new family he gets the adrenaline rush he was previously seeking on the streets after school he's accepted and respected by himself and his peers and he respects others pace to respect others when you're new at box uno and here are the flow-on effects Raiden now his purpose he's decided to stop associating with the people who used to hang out with that school he's always known he'll get into trouble with him but before he didn't here now if he gets into trouble let's stop some boxing now he comes straight home from school and he gets rested and ready for training he has 100% attendance and he excels in the classroom he's called five out of five for all but one of his subjects and there's Leigh the school report I think that's pretty remarkable his focus on boxing is living to learn more about nutrition he eats healthier gives them better performance in all areas of his life not just boxing Raiden feels a valued member of the water boy team and of the Boxing Gym he helps others were possible by contributing to charity fundraising days in helping new members to the gym feel accepted and welcome Raiden's realizing his potential and as he does so he realizes he is even more potential doors keep opening success breeds success isn't it within the everybody's best interests to have a youth kids like Raiden participating in sport the old saying an ounce of prevention is worth a ton of cure is very relevant to this question having our youth participate in sport will create efficiencies to save the taxpayer billions not only on a healthcare system which is currently experiencing a huge spike in mental health issues but less obvious and benefits will come to the for a generation more versed and person-to-person communication and emotional intelligence more confident loving and tolerant generation is clearly a vested interest for us all to have our youth given the opportunity to participate in sport even a few motivation comes from self-centered origins who then needs to take responsibility the increasing problem of our youth not having the best opportunity to participate in sport the government schools sport governing bodies or privately founded charities such as the waterboy the answer is all of the above we all need to work in Symphony as a team ironically to achieve the best results but within that Symphony I see an opportunity to make a dramatic difference with relatively little resource and effort that change I want to direct your attention to us governing bodies it is the purpose of any sports governing body to increase their sports participation and popularity within its catchment area today just over 27% of New Zealand children grow up in a household experiencing income poverty here's the keeper by creating exclusive partnerships with subscribe to view television broadcasters such as Sky TV and New Zealand our sport governing bodies are excluding a significant population the opportunity to watch sport and therefore become a fan nipple and rugby in particular are dying a fastest by player numbers in amateur level don't be fooled by New Zealand rugby telling you their player numbers are increasing whilst it's technically correct their numbers being inflated by a welcome surge and popularity of female sports the ability females to now play rugby at the Olympics and the black ferns our national female race I mean professional earlier this year but ask any rugby club they'll gravely tell you they now field half as many teams in the male division as they did 15 years ago and they are no longer at the heart of the community continued exclusive subscribe to view partnerships have been like a drag for rugby in this country if a TV can do that to rugby a sport with such a cultural stronghold in this country what damage is it doing to the ability for other sports to reach their potential audiences I've come to realise the sky TV is effectively based golden handcuffs on our sport governing bodies now Australia is the closest country to New Zealand and culture and therefore a good point of reference for comparison be it by good luck or good planning this book governing executives seem to have found a winning television sports sports broadcast formula a 50/50 split between free to view and subscribe to view broadcasting Big Bear Korea one of the most talked about sports competitions and recent Australian history it's reached unprecedented levels of success popularity and crowd attendance interestingly Big Bash launched free to air in 2011 Cricket Australia have now taken big bash and moved to the 50-50 model that getting more gold out of the eggs whilst not killing the goose they're just putting on a diet sport broadcasting is about to take a paradigm shift from television to online I'm hugely encouraged to see that with their shift a handful of all Blake's games are going to be free to view in the 2019 Rugby World Cup but three or four games once every four years is not enough can we rely on our sport governing bodies to make the best decision for all of us although the golden handcuffs too tight do we need to use our voice to give them some encouragement do we want to give New Zealand children the opportunity to develop sporting dreams heroes and aspirations to make a more connected healthier community to take us forward for years to come do we want to help kids like Raiden to find purpose belonging enjoyment and mana do we wish to give the opportunity to 700d zealand kids to form lifelong memories of watching the zen zen brought with their grandfather if you like me think that New Zealand is a three where people should have a chance an opportunity to succeed and it's time we realized there's a problem and it's time we start discussing solutions to make them more connected healthier community for everybody thank you you