ANZCO's Local Heroes: Kane Sullivan

Today, meet Kane Sullivan

Engineer at ANZCO Foods Marlborough

Kane is kept busy by many different sports - he coaches basketball, football, volleyball, golf, and Taekwondo. He's involved in running holiday programmes and refereeing football tournaments in Marlborough. He's the President of Blenheim Olympic Taekwondo Club, on the Board of Trustees for Redwoodtown School, and on the committee of the Taekwondo Union of New Zealand's tournament team of a few clubs. And if that doesn't keep him busy enough, he also hosts a Taekwondo tournament on Labour weekend that's open to clubs throughout New Zealand. 

He's mostly involved because his kids do these sports. He started to coach his son's football team because he reckons there's no greater privilege as a parent. It snowballed from there - when his son signed up to a new sport at school, the email would go out looking for coaches, and he'd stick his hand up to make sure the kids had a fair chance to enjoy the sport.

He enjoys seeing the kids achieve goals or targets they've set - it might be grading to a higher belt in Taekwondo, scoring a goal in football, or hitting a birdie in golf. It's the smile and pride of the kids that keeps him going, and it's an extra bonus when parents say that he's helped their kids grow their confidence and mental awareness. It's also the small things - seeing the football kids play well after they've been practicing, helping a child with ADHD nail Taekwondo patterns and techniques they've previously struggled with, or watching a shy kid come out of their shell at softball and ask to come back.

According to Kane, all kids deserve a shot and can achieve anything at their own pace. Most of the time, he says, the textbook way of coaching and teaching needs to be thrown out the window and adapted to suit each child. But above all, he says it's important that the kids enjoy it - riding the high of the good times and laughing at the bad ones, and learn that we can't change what has happened, but we can learn to be better because of what's happened.

Volunteering has helped Kane widen his approach on how to mentor people of different abilities and backgrounds, and how to encourage people to develop their natural skillset. His advice for anyone keen to get involved in their community is to just put your hand up and help, don't be afraid to acknowledge you don’t know what you're doing, but you're going to learn. Be open to feedback, but also know that you don't have to take the advice onboard if it doesn't fit your beliefs. School camps and kids sports are a great place to start, and remember that the kids watch you and are influenced by what you do - if you're outgoing and give things a go with a smile and a laugh, the kids will follow your lead.