For this edition of the Whāingaroa Youthworker Collective – Ngā Whakaruruhau Māhuri Rangatahi Page, Matua Joe chats to Harry Carter.
So tell me about growing up in Whaingaroa.
Growing up in NZ was pretty cool living by the water surfing, sailing, swimming, all of it. I made the most of the ocean. I started off at RAS and then I wanted to meet new people so I decided to go to HBHS. I feel like I have learnt that there are so many people in the world but in a small community you don’t have chances to meet people from different countries, and there are people boarding there also.
Tell me about sailing.
I have been sailing my whole life since I was born. I grew up sailing at Raglan Sailing Club, and the last few years I have started teaching sailing which has been pretty cool. I mainly teach young people around 7-13 years old. Teaching is so different from being a student. Obviously you feel way more responsible and I feel very meaningful to my students.
I was taught by Kirsten to race sailboats and she got me into coaching. So I completed a coaching course in Year 10 and decided to keep pushing myself to keep coaching. She left Raglan so I took over and I volunteer as a coach. I also get paid in Hamilton.
What makes you want to volunteer? I really value that you volunteer!
I enjoy passing on the knowledge, getting more people into sailing. It’s a great skill to have and an awesome environment around you and great people. It’s great for your well-being; as soon as I go out on the water I feel relaxed, my muscles relax, my heart beats, I smile, I have fun! It’s a completely different feeling to anything else. It’s hard to explain. I forget about school and homework and I live in the moment.
What advice would you give to young people growing up today?
Join as many activities outside of school as possible and keep pushing yourself in those activities. If you push through doing these activities it makes you a much better person. You feel like you have more of a purpose in life. Keep pushing through – life gets easier.
What advice would you give to adults to help young people?
Be a mentor – the people who mentored me pushed me, like my parents and Kirsten. In sailing for example you can push a kid further than you would expect to get over the obstacles. There are many obstacles in sailing and once you get through, the next obstacle can be easier. This is true for life also.
What’s it like being a teacher?
I feel like young people respond really well to another young person teaching them. I think that if young people can coach and help other young people it’s a really great idea.
The Raglan Sailing Club has a website to join up to learn to sail. We meet every second weekend in Term 4 and Term 1.
