New Zealand Blue Light - the only youth charity that works in partnership with the New Zealand Police - is holding the inaugural Blue Light U15 Games across Tauranga and Mount Maunganui on November 28 to 30.

School teachers and sports directors have expressed the lack of opportunities for Year 9 and 10 students to compete at a non-elite level and have identified this age group as a key time for students to disengage from sport.

CEO of NZ Blue Light, Rod Bell says starting up the U15 Games is something that they have been thinking of doing for a number of years.

'We are starting fairly small in some ways this year, but our hope is to have even part of the success that the AIMS Games have, which would be a great addition to the sporting calendar for the greater Bay of Plenty area.”

In response, the U15 Games targets in Year 9 and 10 and provides fun, fast, and friendly competition across four codes: Touch Rugby, Fast Five Netball, Fustal and Golf.

'Touch and golf we actually chose because we are already, have for a number of years run national competition throughout our branches in New Zealand, so that was natural to carry on those opportunities,” says Rod.

'The reason why Futsal and Fast Five Netball were selected because they are events were schools don't need mass numbers of students and are really quite low cost. Schools can turn up in a uniform and away you go.

'We hope in a number of years that more sports will be added to it.”

As Blue Light works in partnership with New Zealand Police, a highlight of the games is the inclusion of uniformed officers in running the tournament and the opening ceremony feature a Police Dog demonstration.

The tournament started with an opening ceremony on Wednesday afternoon.

'It will be great just to have all of the young people together and again on Friday when we do all the awards, I think it will be a great celebration.

'I plan to get round to all the sports and see how the competition is.”

Tauranga colleges Aquinas, Tauranga Girls', Tauranga Boys', Papamoa and Te Whare Kura o Mauao have all confirmed teams and entries have also been received from Mahurangi College, North Harbour Blue Light Branch and Raglan School.

The inaugural event involves more than 300 competitors plus coaches, volunteers and supporters, and is expected to grow strongly over time.

A key component of the games is the inclusion of all young people, including those enrolled in alternative education, youth organisations or Blue Light Branches. For many it's their only opportunity to participate in an organised sporting event.

Fun, fair play and whanau are core U15 Games values: fun through sport, fair play through attitude, and whanau through appreciating team mates, coaches and mentors. A major prize will be awarded to the team in each code that best displays these values.

'I'm just really thankful for the huge support we've always had from police members, both locally and who are being a lot of the teams to the area,” says Rod.

'We are really fortunate as an organisation to have police as our partner, and also we have had fantastic support from in particular New Zealand Community Trust and a number of local businesses which helps us put the event on at very little or almost no cost for those competing which is really important.”

The U15 Games have been timed to motivate student attendance until the end of the year and provide an event to look forward to when senior students are on study leave or have left for the year.

The Tauranga community has responded favourably to the event, with major sponsor NZCT coming on board and generous local business contributing to the event's success.