Sports enthusiasts in several Asian countries will now be able to buy a range of unique sports equipment from New Zealand company Packaworld International, thanks to an agreement with one of China’s leading sports equipment suppliers, AirGoal Sports.

Following several years of collaboration, Packaworld and AirGoal Sports have entered a distribution agreement, which extends Packaworld’s distribution network to east Asian countries, including China.

Packaworld CEO Peter Roberts said the agreement was a significant milestone in Packaworld’s history and a huge step towards achieving the company’s vision of bringing the joy of sport to more people around the world.

An amazing innovation has the potential to grow the sport of goalball worldwide. The inflatable, portable Goalball Packagoal offers a sport hampered by cumbersome equipment  a new avenue to be easily transported and played in a wider variety of venues.

Former New Zealand Goalball representative Charles Tauhore says the inflatable Goalball Packagoal from Packaworld offers clear safety benefits for players, and has the potential to grow the sport worldwide.

Goalball was the first sport developed for blind and vision-impaired people. It originated as a rehabilitative sport for veterans who lost vision during World War II, and became an official Paralympic sport in 1976. It is played by sighted, low vision and fully blind people.

Packaworld sent portable football goals to the Fijian village of Namara to help bring the joy of sport to children at a school being rebuilt after Cyclone Winston.

Fulton Primary School has more than 100 students, and is located two hours’ drive from the town of Rakiraki in Fiji’s Ra province. Following the destruction of the school’s classrooms by the powerful February 2016 cyclone, tents were deployed as temporary classrooms, and the school sports field was affected by the need to store materials for construction.

Football Packagoals were transported to the school by the Gracegate Centre’s ‘Move to Fiji’ school rebuild initiative.

The world’s first blind rugby international was played at QBE Stadium in Auckland on 6 July, featuring another world-first: truly portable full-size rugby posts.

Played between the Blind Lions and New Zealand Blind Rugby in the leadup to the British and Irish Lions tour finale at Eden Park, the match finished 31-0 as glimpses of brilliance from the New Zealanders were overpowered by the Blind Lions’ experience and fitness.

Inflatable ‘Rugby Packaposts’ meet World Rugby size guidelines, and were produced by New Zealand sporting products supplier Packaworld International to overcome challenges posed by conventional rugby posts, which are usually made of wood, steel or aluminium.

One of New Zealand’s newest junior football clubs has been given a leg up thanks to Junior Football Packagoals from Kiwi company Packaworld International.

The high quality 2x1 metre inflatable goals arrived with the Waihi AFC Juniors earlier this month and played a starring role on Sunday (25 July) during a special training session with 2016 McDonald’s Junior Coach of the Year Nic Millichip.

More than 50 young footballers and parents attended Sunday’s session, which was arranged by Waihi AFC Juniors programme organisers Richard James and Rudy Sas to give local children the chance to learn from one of the country’s top coaches.

Packaworld International was announced as an Export Gold Award finalist in the prestigious Wellington Gold Awards by Wellington Mayor Justin Lester on 25 May, at an event attended by 62 of the most innovative and outstanding businesses from the Wellington Region.
 
This announcement marks the second year running that Packaworld has been nominated as a Global Gold finalist in the Wellington Gold Awards. The nomination was made on the back of fantastic sales results, flourishing global relationships and advances in the design of portable sports equipment. 

​​​Wellington Gold Awards Director John Dow said great innovation and creativity had been demonstrated by successful businesses, such as Packaworld.

An award-winning swim school in Wellington, New Zealand is inspiring children to learn to swim with the help of Junior Water Polo Packagoals.

Tawa-based Easyswim Swim School launched junior water polo sessions in February 2017. These ‘Splash Attack’ sessions are a form of junior water polo played in shallow school pools so all children can play.

The swim school’s founder and director Todd Morton says introducing the sport at a junior level has given swimming teachers a way to help children understand the practical importance of skills in the water and comprehend not just how to swim, but also why swimming skills are important.

Young street footballers in Panama City now have a way to turn their parks and urban spaces into football pitches thanks to Packaworld International.

On a trip to Panama to support the 2017 Latin American Special Olympics Games, Packaworld International CEO Peter Roberts encountered a group of young street footballers.

Once Football Packagoals were inflated, a classic game of street football kicked off, turning a Panama City park into an improvised football stadium where the joy of the game brought in more players and spectators.

​The goals were given to the players afterwards so they could take the game with them and play for real wherever and whenever they wanted to.

Special Olympics athletes from across South and Central America experienced the magic of portable Packabocce courts during the recent 2017 Latin American Special Olympics Games bocce tournament in Panama City.

Bocce is an ancient sport of Italian origin, similar to petanque but played within a court with raised sides.

​Latin American Special Olympics Sports Director Domenico Carnevali said the inflatable 60 x 12-foot competition size Packabocce courts produced by Packaworld International had performed admirably over five days of solid competition play, and had captured a lot of people’s imagination.

The sun was shining in Lower Hutt where over 140 people took part in the annual Tui Hurricanes Alumni golf tournament, held at Shandon Golf Course on 21 March.
 
Rugby greats and current stars including Christian Cullen, Cory Jane, Beauden Barrett, Brad Shields and Dane Coles took part in the event, which featured a sneak preview of Packaworld’s newest innovation – the world’s first full size, truly portable rugby post.

The Rugby Packapost was on display in front of the 18th hole, a par 3 hole which featured a ‘nearest the pin competition’, with the added challenge for players to fire tee shots through the uprights.

Hurricanes Alumni Board Member, and former Hurricane and Mike Russell says the idea for portable full-sized rugby posts that can be set up in minutes is ‘pretty cool’.
 
“I’m impressed someone has been able to create a full-size rugby post that you can transport around so easily,” Mr Russell says. “I can definitely see the potential for a product like this one to take off, especially in emerging rugby nations without established facilities.”

Every week, around 400 children in Wellington, New Zealand, take to the field to play nursery football as part of an innovative programme using Football Packagoals.

Known as Little Dribblers Football Club, the programme inspires children aged up to seven years old to play football and develop the basic social skills required for the sport.

The programme recently purchased inflatable Junior Football Packagoals to replace the steel goals that were previously used, and they have now been rolled out in Wellington and at other Little Dribblers franchises around New Zealand.

Innovative inflatable sports courts produced by Packaworld International will take the field at the Latin American Special Olympics Games in Panama this April, along with more than 800 athletes from 21 countries.

The courts provide the arenas for the sport of bocce, an ancient Italian sport similar to pétanque and lawn bowls, to be contested by 110 athletes from 13 countries at the event.

Packaworld Chief Executive Peter Roberts said competition bocce courts were 60 feet long and 12 feet wide, and were traditionally built into venues or composed of bulky materials.

Perth’s youngsters are keeping active in Western Australia’s summer heat thanks to the introduction of Junior Water Polo Packagoals at Beatty Park Leisure Centre in North Perth.

More than 80 children are enjoying the inflatable goals from Packaworld International each week as part of Triton Water Polo Club’s shared Flippaball Competition with Newman Water Polo. Over 50 children also turn up to Triton’s junior training sessions each weekend.

Triton Flippaball Coordinator Jemma Day says the club’s newest purchase, from the ‘professional’ range of Junior Water Polo Packagoals, is taking the hassle out of training for the club and stands out amongst the alternatives.

Over 600 players and more than 3,000 fans had a new experience at one of the USA’s largest junior rugby tournaments, thanks to one of a kind portable Junior Rugby Packaposts designed by New Zealand company Packaworld International.

The Rhinos Rugby Stomp was hosted by Rhinos Rugby Club on Sunday 29 January at Great Park in the city of Irvine, California. The tournament featured Under 14 age group teams from nine clubs across California.

Junior rugby is often played without posts, particularly in the US, where many sports fields are set up for other sports.

Junior Football Packagoals supplied by Packaworld International helped children diagnosed with cancer to enjoy themselves in Camp Quality events held around New Zealand earlier this month.

Packaworld’s support also included a special offer to contribute NZD $40 per Junior Football Packagoal sold, in addition to a 20 per cent discount on a range of goals.

Children at this year’s Camp Quality enjoyed playing football using the portable junior football Packagoals. Other activities at the camps included stage performances, jet boating, water slides, theme park rides, farm visits and other sporting activities.