Our goal is to make sports gear accessible to everyone: Manesh Patel, owner of Evolve and Sports First
Manesh Patel is a man on a mission.
Vandana and Manesh
A polymer science graduate, whose grandfather immigrated to New Zealand from Navsari, Gujarat, believes in doing whatever we can as a society, to make sports gear accessible to everyone, especially the youth of New Zealand society, and our Kiwi-Indian community.
“Apart from the obvious physical benefits, sports are important in one’s life, as it aids in improving our mental health, inculcate time-management and discipline, boost self-confidence, and teaches leadership and team-building qualities. That’s why it’s such a shame that popular sports such as cricket and hockey, which require expensive equipment to play, is out of reach for many sections of our New Zealand society,” he says, explaining his reasons for launching his sports shop in Mount Roskill - Sports First - in 2011.
“But few years later, I realised that to make tangible difference in accessibility of sports gear, we need to manufacture our own equipments, so as to cut the margins and keep the price points as low as possible. That’s when we launched our own brand called Evolve, under which we sell cricket and hockey equipments. All our bats are handmade from English willow, and are priced significantly lower than the international brands. So you get the same quality, at a much reduced price. Same applies to Evolve hockey sticks as well,” he adds.
Now, over the course of just under ten years, Patel not only sells sports equipments – including that of lacrosse and racket sports – but also provides the full range of cricket bat servicing facilities. “We do re-balancing, knocking, rehandling, refurbishment, repair etc.,” he informs.
On the question of whether he just sells sports equipment or himself plays any sports, Patel credits his wife Vandana – head coach at Redefining Athleticism – for reintroducing him to India’s national game. “I used to play hockey in school. Then somehow left it. It was Vandana who took me to Mount Eden Hockey Club in 2005. Now, apart from work, I spent most of my time playing [he is President of his club and a member of it’s premier team] or coaching hockey [1st XI Macleans College Girls Team],” he concludes.
-Gaurav Sharma