Taking to the slopes of Cardrona across the two days, it might be easy to think it would put several of the summer sports coaches a little outside their comfort zone. Not so says national bowls coach, Mike Kernaghan.
“It was really cool to watch coaching in a different setting to what I’m used to, but the most interesting part of the residential was watching Brad, Nick and Jason coach athletes as young as 13 through 16 years, who are either on the verge of moving from pre HP to elite status or are about to embark on their first European campaign,” says Mike.
With one more residential course scheduled in 2023, some of the programme participants have shared a few of the somewhat surprising benefits they are experiencing already through their involvement.
Speed Climbing national coach, Rob Moore, says he gained invaluable insights and information to help him prepare his young charge, Julian David, for his recent success in the Junior (U20) World Championships.
“Typically climbers do their warm ups on the day of competition so they can get a really fast first up climb. However at the World Championships, Julian had to complete his warm up practice the day before,” says Rob.
“This was completely new territory for us. So we needed to work out a way to handle this unexpected change to ensure Julian was ready to fly up the climb despite the change in practice routine. Through the Kia Manawanui programme I reached out to my programme colleague, Zoe Hobb’s sprint coach, James Mortimer, whose experience warming up a sprinter was incredibly helpful for us.
“It was a wonderful example of cross sport learning and, more importantly, the value of the network and connections we are building as part of Kia Manawanui.”
Mike says the benefits and insights he has gained so far have been watching how coaches from other sports get the best out of their athletes. “It’s been invaluable and a real insight watching how other coaches engage with their athletes to ensure they have a singular focus for their next run or play.
“I think it has also confirmed that we are on the right track in bowls.”
And the success of the New Zealand team at the recent World Champs on the Gold Coast would certainly reinforce Mike’s belief.
The women’s team had its best performance in 50 years and won the Taylor Trophy for the Women’s Team of the Tournament following a gold to Tayla Bruce in the Women’s Singles, silver to the Women’s Triples team of Tayla, Val Smith and Leeane Poulson and bronze to the Women’s Fours team of Val, Leeane, Selina Goddard and Katelyn Inch.
Another highlight for Mike was the gold medal success for the Women’s Para team of Teri Blackbourn and Julie O’Connell. “Para bowls has only been integrated into our overall programme in the last three years and the gold medal success was an outstanding tribute to the integrated environment.”
Rounding out the team’s success was a bronze medal to the Men’s Four.
The final residential for 2023 is in December and will feature two of the programme’s sailing coaches, Jenny Armstrong and Markus Sommerville, putting their sailors through their paces on the Waitematā.
