Youth drop-in space opened at Rec Centre

October 16th, 2015
[by David Armstrong]

The provision of a safe drop-in space for young people after school hours is the aim of a new initiative by the Recreation Centre, the Youth Drop-in Lounge.

The large room between the roller skating rink and the main sports arena has been fitted out with a range of equipment that encourages activity and creativity for school-age youngsters.

The drop-in lounge opened this week, but with little promotion of it yet there have not been many youngsters using it so far. But the initiative has a longer term aim of building patronage among all sorts of young people, especially those whose parents work during the day and would appreciate having a safe place for their kids to be constructively occupied up till 5pm.

Recreation Centre staff member Josie Bisley tries out the drum kit

The project is a joint initiative by two Tasman Youth Council members, Tiegan Maru and Jordan Francios, along with the operators of the Recreation Centre, Sports Tasman. The latter purchased the gear that is available for use, mainly secondhand to keep the cost down.

The equipment includes a big TV and DVD player, three computers for doing homework, a table tennis table, a drum kit, electric guitar and two keyboards, and two dart boards which were donated by the organisers of the recent National Darts Tournament.

Following next week there will be a charge of $2 per session (for the first two weeks it has been free), which is very cheap for parents who would appreciate a safe place for their kids to frequent after school, especially if they are not old enough to be legally home alone.

Staff of the Recreation Centre are on hand and able to keep an eye on activities if enough youngsters are present.

The idea of a Youth Drop-in Lounge has been floated from time to time over many years, and was discussed at length during the Motueka 2030 community consultation and the Youth Summit which was part of that program in May.

"For a couple of years now there has been a lot said about how there is nowhere for kids to come and hang out," Rec Centre manager Jody Maru told The Guardian newspaper. "Well, we are providing that space - whether or not they use it is entirely up to them."

For more information about the facility, hours etc, phone the Recreation Centre at .

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