Brad Fleming has joined the Big Buddy team and believes that having a good male role model is what can make the difference in young boys' lives.

The retired New Zealand rugby seven's star got on board with charity Big Buddy last year after returning to the Bay of Plenty – wanting to make a positive impact in the community.

Big Buddy is about giving boys between seven and 14 years old who don't have a male figure in their lives, a good male role model. The charity has been around for more than 20 years and focuses on building supportive friendships between Big and Little Buddies.

'I worked at Tauranga boys for a while and I saw the impact that you can make when you build a relationship with a young fella,” says Brad.

Matching Buddies

His role at Big Buddy is mentoring manager for Tauranga and Hamilton, where Brad gets to know Little Buddies and Big Buddies to make the best match.

Finding Big and Little Buddies with similar interests, Brad says: 'We promote experiences over spending money on little buddies – so taking them out for a bike ride or some matches they just hanging out on the farm or walking up the Mount”.

'Most [Big Buddies] are into outdoors but we do have some mentors with other interests as well who jump on board and relate to the boys in different ways.”

Brad says the key for young boys is having a ‘good' male role model.

'Boys tend to seek out a mentor and sometimes they are not the best influence –they're often the people that are there.

'If boys don't have or know what a solid man looks like then they're making it up as they go in their little groups and seeing a lot of what's happening with crime – in some areas I think it's attributed to not enough good men stepping forward or showing up.”

Self-confidence

The key difference Brad sees in young boys that have a Big Buddy in their lives is confidence.

'For most of the boys they just feel a little bit more confident in themselves… they've suffered from loss or neglect and their trust levels start to grow.

'We've had some relationships going for 10 or 15 years where they keep in touch and they're genuinely Big and Little buddies in the long term.

'Any good man can be a good buddy,” says Brad.

He says it's essential for men that want to support as a Big Buddy have the time to be consistent with their Little Buddy.

'We're working with boys that haven't had a man in their life for so long and they haven't seen that commitment in a long time.”

To become a Big Buddy or to find a Big Buddy visit: www.bigbuddy.org.nz