Fuelled, Focused, and Fed: ProPare’s Game Plan for Young Men

Tucked away in the heart of New Lynn, there’s a space that hums with energy - not just from the clanking of weights or the slap of boots on turf, but from the quiet confidence of young men transforming their lives.

This is ProPare Athlete Management Trust, short for Professional Preparation -  a Pacific-led Charitable Trust. It is a positive youth development organisation youth development trust that serves Pacific youth in West Auckland.

ProPare is flipping the script for young Pacific and Māori men aged 14 to 18. It’s a place where fitness and futures go hand in hand, where boys become brothers, and where wellbeing is more than just a buzzword - it’s a daily practice.

Founded by Siaosi Gavet and co-founder/wife Tafaoga, ProPare was born from a deep concern they had back in 2015. Working alongside rugby league players, he noticed something missing — not talent or drive, but support. “There was a massive mental health problem in the space,” he says. “Young men were falling through the cracks.” That realization led to the founding of ProPare in 2020 - a space designed not just to prepare young men for professional sport, but for life.

And it’s working.

Every day, ProPare offers a full-time, wraparound program from its base in New Lynn and a second, smaller hub in Sunnyvale. During the day, young men who have disengaged from school come in for correspondence supervision, mentoring, training, and kai. In the evenings and weekends, it becomes a community training ground - with tutors, trainers, and mentors all under one roof. Transport is sorted, dinner is served, and there’s always someone to lean on.

The support from the Pasifika Olaga Lei fund further strengthens the work that ProPare has already been doing on the ground for their community. With it, ProPare has been able to do the simple but vital things: feed the boys, get them to where they need to be, and keep the doors open every single day. “You can’t expect a young man to grow if he’s hungry or can’t get to you,” says Siaosi. “Food and transport are wellbeing, too.”

Wellbeing is woven into every layer of the program. Each week, every young man completes a 50-question wellbeing screen - a 20-minute check-in that helps the ProPare team spot anything that might be going on under the surface. “A lot of our boys don’t know how to say they’re struggling,” Siaosi explains. “But this helps us catch it. It gives us a way in.”

That care is deeply intentional. The ProPare approach is holistic, grounded in the belief that for a young man to succeed, all aspects of his life need attention - his physical strength, academic progress, emotional wellbeing, spiritual grounding, and sense of purpose. “It’s like an equalizer on a speaker,” says Siaosi. “You can’t have one dial at zero and another at 100 and expect the sound to be good. Everything has to be balanced.”

Each young man also builds his IDP - Individual Dream Plan. It’s more than a career plan - it’s a blueprint for the life he wants to live. It covers everything: what he’s doing to grow, where he needs support, what success looks like on his terms. Tutors help with NCEA credits, trainers help with strength and speed, mentors help with everything in between.

And perhaps most powerfully, the programme builds from within. Young men who come through ProPare often return - as trainers, as tuakana, as leaders. The impact is generational. One becomes two, two becomes ten, ten becomes a movement. And it spreads the old-fashioned way - by word of mouth. A friend brings a cousin, a cousin brings a brother. But no one gets in without doing a workout with the crew. “That workout is everything,” laughs Siaosi. “It sets the tone. You show up, you put in, and you belong.”

For these young men, rugby might be the hook - but what keeps them coming back is the brotherhood, the safety, the sense that here, they are seen and backed fully. ProPare isn’t just a gym. It’s a village. And it’s showing what’s possible when you lead with care, consistency, and culture.

“Every boy that walks through those doors,” says Siaosi, “deserves to feel like they matter. That someone has their back. That they have a future.”

At ProPare, they don’t just tell them that — they show them. Every single day.

This movement is proudly supported through the Olaga Lei initiative, which empowers 12 for-Pasefika-by-Pasefika organisations to strengthen community wellbeing. It is part of the Le Moana West Collective’s wider vision to create systemic change for Pacific peoples in West Auckland.