news blog

Five cruise ships operated by P&O Cruises have added the sport of bocce to their list of on-board activities, thanks to an innovative portable court developed by a New Zealand company.

Packaworld developed inflatable ‘Packabocce’ courts in competition and recreation sizes to overcome the storage challenges posed by traditional bocce courts, which are 60 feet long and 12 feet wide. The size and bulk of traditional courts has posed a significant barrier to offering the Italian sport on cruise ships or in shared spaces in the past.

​P&O Cruises Head of Entertainment Brett Annable said it was exciting to be able to offer bocce as an activity in a part of the world where it was less well known.

Wellington City Council recreation centres, Nairnville and Karori  joined the ranks of happy Packaworld customers by recently acquiring some junior 2mx1m Packagoals.

"We used the goals over the holiday programme and they were great," said Emily Moorhouse, Team Leader at Karori. 

Equally impressed was Facilty Manager at Nairnville, Lena McCarthy, "These goals are just awesome and will be saving us so much time and space."

"The staff at the centres love these goals," said Packaworld CEO, Pete Roberts.

New Zealand's men's U-17 coach and former All Whites captain Danny Hay was another NZ football great to be impressed with his first exposure to Packaworld's football products.  

"I can see why these goals are becoming so popular [in schools] as they're easy to set up and pack away. It was also surprising to see how rigid they are," said Hay.

"It's great to get yet another endorsement from someone who knows his football," said Packaworld CEO, Pete Roberts. "We do have a unique range of inflatable products which address a number of challenges schools and football clubs face when it comes to portability and storage." 

Not many junior clubs can boast an indoor astro turf training facility which, in comparison to other clubs, has a huge amount of  storage space. 

"We've had the 2mx1m Packagoals for around 3 years and they're still going strong, They've been popular with our coaches and from a storage perspective they're second to none. Our storage area can quickly get filled up with all the equipment we have. One of the biggest challenges are our steel goals [which take up so much room]. So when we saw the Packagoals it just made so much sense to invest in goals that saves us so much space " said Kath Henshaw, Tawa Juniors Club Captain.

Over 60 teams from all over New Zealand took part in the NZ Secondary Schools Futsal Championships held in Wellington.

The latest Packaworld futsal goal customer, Hamilton Boys High, did their school proud by getting through to the junior boys final only to narrowly lose 5-3 to a well drilled Christchurch based St Andrews College.

"There's some pretty good team here and I'm delighted how the boys performed," said Hamilton Boys' inspirational coach Dominic O'Sullivan.

​Also at the tournament where Otago Boys High School led by ex All White legend and Head of PE Mike McGarry. 

"It wasn't always this easy setting up the pitches for our Beach Football tournaments. The futsal goals come with nets attached which makes them so much easier to set up, packaway and ship around the country," said Damien Hochberg, Beach Football events manager. "

"The futsal goals are one of the more popular size goals we sell," said Packaworld CEO, Pete Roberts. "They provide a good sized target for both junior and senior players and of course being inflatable are pretty safe."  

For the fourth time in five years 'Zico' took out the Wellington Beach Football competition with a hard fought 4-3 win over 'Have a Shot'. The Wellington Beach football competition is an annual event which is gaining in popularity and is a game that tests the fitness of players and their ability to adapt to somewhat unusual playing conditions. As usual the inflatable Packagoals stood up to the task as shots flew in from every direction. 

The NZ Beach Football tournament has its Auckland tournament on 14th February - what finer way to spend Valentines Day.