From the Director
Kia ora tatou,
I really want to acknowledge those of you and your whanau around the country who have been impacted by the severe weather we have had and continue to experience. Our thoughts are certainly with you.
Congratulations to all the winners from last week’s Halberg Awards. It was a tough year for the judges with many outstanding results but in reality all the finalists simply reflect a superb year of New Zealand achievement in high performance sport.
I would particularly like to congratulate the HPSNZ Sportswoman of the Year Award Winner Zoi Sadowski-Synott who also took out the Supreme Halberg Award.
Congratulations also to the recipient of this year’s Sport New Zealand Leadership Award, Sarah Hirini – a wonderful woman and outstanding athlete who is a true leader in every sense.
As mentioned at the awards ceremony, Sarah has a long list of achievements in both 15s and 7s rugby, but her leadership goes far beyond that. She truly inspires others to work hard, play hard but always done in a way that respects the people she plays beside and against.
While last week was about celebrating the successes of 2022, there is plenty to look forward to in 2023 as we hone the key Paris Olympic and Paralympic campaigns and ensure a laser focus on what coaches, athletes and support staff need between now and the Games in 18 months to maximise their chances of success.
An important contributor to that is the Performance Summit 2023 which will see athletes, coaches, NSOs and other stakeholders from across the high performance system come together to learn from past campaigns and from each other with Paris and other future pinnacle events in mind.
With an eye to 2028 and 2032, we are also ramping up our Pathways work with NSOs and regional organisations all around the country, connecting pre-HP athletes with the performance pathway and providing them with support in their home regions.
There are already more than 200 pre-HP athletes involved in pilots in Wellington, Christchurch and Dunedin. You can see the story of how the Christchurch pilot is benefitting Para athlete Sarah James who is one of them here.
We’re also broadening our support for women in HP sport with a revamped Residency Experience up and running in 2023, a third intake for our Te Hāpaitanga high performance coaching programme for women and the launch of a new Women in HP Sport Alumni Network.
It’s an exciting year ahead.
Ngā mihi nui
Steve.
High Performance sector comes together for Performance Summit 2023
New Zealand’s high performance sport sector will come together in March for Performance Summit 2023, a critical opportunity to collaborate and share learnings and ideas in the lead up to Paris 2024 and future pinnacle events.
“The connectivity and ability to collaborate within New Zealand’s high performance sport system is a key part of our competitive advantage,” Chair of the Performance Summit Advisory Group Chris Morrison says.
“This event is a forum to maximise that potential as we look towards Paris 2024, Milan Cortina 2026 and other pinnacle events between now and 2032.”
HPSNZ coaching programme off to a flying start
Coaching Pathway Programmes for 2023 have leapt out of the blocks at top speed with all five programmes in full swing including the introduction of Kia Manawanui Performance Coaching in Action.
Newly appointed Head of Coaching, Daryl Gibson, says his team put in a huge effort towards the end of 2022 to ensure all the Coaching Pathway Programmes were ready to go at the start of the year.
Para sports benefit from HPSNZ Performance Pathways project
Performance Pathways projects around the country are already presenting opportunities to young pre-high performance athletes, including Para athletes and coaches such as emerging Christchurch wheelchair racer Sarah James.
Paralympics New Zealand Para Sport Pathway Manager Dale MacDonald is thrilled to be liaising with the HPSNZ Pathways team around the Performance Pathways project.
“We’re working towards integrated Performance Pathway systems within regions and thereby not only increasing development opportunities for Para athletes and coaches, but also disseminating Para sport knowledge more widely throughout New Zealand,” she says.
Nacra 17 crew building to Paris 2024
29 July, 2021
© Sailing Energy / World Sailing
With Yachting NZ’s Nacra 17 crew of Erica Dawson and Micah Wilkinson competing in the Lanzarote International Regatta this week, followed by an Olympic test event on the Marseilles course in July, their Paris 2024 campaign is building steadily.
We take a look behind the scenes at how they have worked with their HPSNZ Performance Support team to get to this point and what they are focusing on for their Paris campaign.
314 athletes awarded 2023 Prime Minister’s Scholarships
Congratulations to the 304 high performance athletes and 10 gold athletes who have received the Prime Minister’s Athlete Scholarship for 2023.
Recipients are from across 38 sports with the largest representation from rowing, yachting, cycling and snow sports.
In addition, 25 sports have received 2023 Prime Minister’s Scholarships for coaches, support teams and officials. Congratulations to all scholarship recipients.
The full list of Prime Minister’s Athlete Scholarship recipients.
Surfing’s Olympic aspirations
In the latest video from our series showcasing HPSNZ’s investment in Aspirational Sports, we put the spotlight on Surfing, as their high performance athletes look to qualify for Paris 2024.
Check out the video here and to see more of Surfing’s high performance programme and hear from some of the Olympic hopefuls who recently contested the National Championships at Piha.
Rugby Sevens legend appointed to lead Athlete Leaders Network
Rugby Sevens legend DJ Forbes has been appointed General Manager of the newly formed Athlete Leaders Network (ALN).
The ALN is a new, sector wide athlete mechanism set to increase the strength and mana of the athlete voice by ensuring athlete perspectives are brought into decision-making across the high -performance sport system.
As a multiple Sevens Series World Title winner and Commonwealth Games gold and silver medalist, DJ brings a wealth of athlete experience to the role, along with significant athlete representation experience from his four years as the NZOC’s Athlete Engagement Manager.
The future of Integrity in Sport and Recreation – developing a National Code the focus for upcoming webinar
Work is underway to develop a National Code of Integrity for the sport and recreation sector.
The Integrity Transition Programme would like to share more about it and about its wider work to strengthen the overall integrity system.
Programme director Rebecca Rolls says the Code will be the cornerstone for the way integrity issues are addressed in the future. “It’s something that can benefit all participants – athletes, coaches, administrators, officials, organisations – and we want the whole sector to be involved in its development.”
All people within the sport and recreation sector are invited to join the webinar and learn more about how they can contribute to the Code and wider kaupapa to strengthen integrity.
Webinar Wednesday 8 March at 7pm
Register for the webinar here
The webinar will be recorded and available for viewing on the Integrity Transition website.
The Programme team will also hold a series of engagement hui with key parts of the sector throughout February and early March 2023. Invitations to these hui will be sent separately.
Any questions can be directed to enquiries@integritytransition.org.nz or further information is available at www.Integritytransition.org.nz.
