26% of Manukau’s population is under 15 years of age. Many of these young people live in socio-economically deprived areas, attend low decile schools and many do not get the opportunity to participate in sport and physical recreation.
Despite this, Manukau has produced internationally-acclaimed sports-stars like Dame Valerie Adams, the late Jonah Lomu, Ruben Wiki, Scott Dixon, Kieran Read and Barbara Kendall.