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RNZ News
25-06-2025
- Sport
- RNZ News
Hockey NZ doing their best with less money
New Zealand Black Sticks men celebrate their win at the 2025 Nations Cup in Malaysia. Photo: WORLDSPORTPICS / PHOTOSPORT After having their funding cut last year Hockey New Zealand has taken a new approach to their international programme and they're happy with the start they've made. The Black Sticks men won back to back Nations Cup tournaments with victory in Kuala Lumpur earlier this week to add to the title the Black Sticks women won earlier this year. The Nations Cup is a week long tournament for teams outside the top nine nations that play in a Pro League. With a budget of around $750,000 needed for each team, the cost of competing in the Pro League is now out of the reach of Hockey New Zealand after they had their High Performance Sport New Zealand funding slashed. Last year the women failed to qualify for the Olympics, while the men lost all of their games in Paris and as a result HPSNZ cut their funding by $1.5 million. Add to that the dropping of hockey from the reduced Glasgow 2026 Commonwealth Games programme and Hockey New Zealand had to reset their focus for the pinnacle events and how they would prepare for them. The immediate focus is the 2026 World Cup which will be a combined tournament in Belgium and the Netherlands. The victories in the Nations Cups was a good start according to Hockey NZ's acting CEO Ken Maplesden. "It's a good sign that we're building strength back in our programmes," Maplesden told RNZ. The Black Sticks men are assured of a place in their World Cup by virtue of Oceania rivals Australia having an automatic spot as Pro League champions. The Black Sticks women will need to beat Australia in the Oceania Cup in September or go to a qualifying tournament in early 2026 to qualify for their World Cup. Hockey New Zealand had already decided that the women wouldn't join the Pro League next season and while there is now an invitation there for the men after winning the Nations Cup it seems unlikely they would be involved either. "Ultimately our programme is geared towards the World Cup next year and the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles," Maplesden said. New Zealand Black Sticks women captain Olivia Shannon talks to the team during the 2025 Nations Cup in Chile. Photo: Photosport While competing against the best in the Pro League would benefit their teams, the determining factor is the bottom line. "The balancing act here is trying to make best use of the limited resources that we have and we want to prepare ourselves to perform at those pinnacle events (the World Cup and Olympics) and what is the best way to prepare our programme for that," he said. "Obviously the absolute elite nations are playing in the Pro League but we think we can build a programme that incorporates competing and doing well at Nations Cup and also getting some top tier competition." Part of that competition plan is the domestic Premier League which has four franchise men's and women's teams and is entering it's second season. "The Premier League is essential for us as it provides a domestic opportunity for our high performance players to come together and play top quality games over a six week period and our Black Sticks players are really committed to it." Maplesden said part of their plan had been to decentralise their programme with players now basing themselves for what is best for them, both for their hockey and for their lives. The Black Sticks women have the Oceania Cup in September while Maplesden is hoping they can secure 15 to 20 internationals for both teams leading into the World Cup.
Newsroom
22-06-2025
- Sport
- Newsroom
On a fast track from cyclist to world champ coach
Nicole Murray remembers the panic when she realised she'd forgotten her prosthetic before the 3000m individual pursuit qualifying ride at the 2024 Paralympic Games in Paris. It was a mistake that could have mentally unravelled the Para cyclist before one of the biggest races in her career. But instead, the level-headed approach of her coach, Elyse Fraser, put Murray straight back on track. 'Elyse just laid it out: 'Here's our Plan A, here's Plan B; we'll just deal with it and move on'. And that was exactly what I needed. And it's exactly what I did,' says Murray, who went out and rode a personal best time on her way to winning the bronze medal (this time with her prosthetic hand retrieved from the athletes' village). 'With her life experience outside sport, Fraser has a great perspective on what is a terrible situation. Yes, it means a lot to us, but it's still sport at the end of the day. She's still so supportive, and she will do everything to help us win.' A former police officer, Fraser took that day at the Vélodrome de Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines in her stride. Much like she has with her rapid rise in the world of high performance coaching. Since joining Cycling New Zealand in 2023, through a Women in High Performance Sport residency experience as an endurance development coach, Fraser has been given unexpected opportunities as lead coach on two of sport's largest stages. Soon after the Paralympics, she coached Bryony Botha and Ally Wollaston, who won four medals between them at the UCI Track Cycling World Championships in Denmark (including Wollaston's two world champion titles). Fraser had the full support of Cycling NZ's lead women's endurance coach, Paul Manning, who 'stepped back to thrust her forward to lead'. 'I've done so much personal development, courses and classroom learning, but then to get hands-on experience like this was incredible,' Fraser says. A 'people person' in a highly technical sport, Fraser has brought her distinctive skillset of empathy, honesty and equanimity to cycling, and a broader understanding of the issues female athletes face. Elyse Fraser took up cycling at 25 after a successful rowing career. Photo: Thomas Hamill Photography Her story follows an extraordinary three-year path from a place in High Performance Sport NZ's Te Hāpaitanga coaching development programme, to a residency at Cycling NZ, then onto a fulltime role developing the next generation of high performance cyclists. But it hasn't been without its personal challenges. Fraser was a 'hyperactive kid' who played multiple sports, but her true passion was rowing. But after rowing for the NZ university team while studying psychology and PE at Otago, Fraser couldn't see herself taking the sport further, so at 25, she tried cycling – and made an immediate impression on the sport. Making the national women's endurance track squad, she took a year's leave from her job with the Police to be part of the high performance programme in Cambridge. But it was a difficult time. 'I had big demands placed on me and I didn't feel I was well looked after,' says Fraser. After racing in Europe, she returned to Christchurch. Then a promising young road rider approached Fraser to coach her. 'I was blindsided, because I'd never considered myself as a coach,' she says. 'But her story really aligned with mine.' Encouraged by Fraser's partner, Andrew Williams – also a cycling coach – she took the challenge on. Other young female riders then approached Fraser, who built to a team of 12 athletes. Cycling NZ invited her to a national training camp as a 'very junior assistant coach' – her first insight into the high performance coaching landscape. Fraser was then invited to work with Richard Smith, who was running a pilot supporting sports organisations with early-stage coach development. There she met Amy Taylor, the interim high performance director at Cycling NZ. 'Amy gave me a lot of time, and I was able to safely share my story and goals with her,' Fraser says. 'She was very encouraging, pushing me in the right direction and putting opportunities in front of me. She was helping navigate Cycling NZ through a tumultuous time, and she was a pioneer for women in cycling, for coaching and leadership. 'I remember sitting with Amy at the top of the velodrome, looking down on the Cycling NZ pit and she asked, 'Do you actually see yourself there?' and I said 'No'. 'At the time, there were athletes and all-male coaching staff; there may have been a female physio. And I said: 'I really don't understand how a female can fit into this landscape and be accepted and supported along that journey'. That visibility piece was really missing.' Amy put Fraser forward for Te Hāpaitanga Cohort 2, which started a 'fast-track series of events'. Coaches Tessa Jenkins (left) and Elyse Fraser (centre) working at the Velodrome in Cambridge. Photo: Thomas Hamill Photography At the first residential workshop, Fraser struggled to answer the question: What's your philosophy and your values? Eighteen months later, she'd found the answers. 'I know who I am so much better now. My values guide what I do. Especially when things get tough, and I want to go into my passive mode,' she says. 'My first value is honesty. Another is being empathetic; being tough on issues but gentle on people. And then equanimity – being really balanced and trying not to let my emotions override things.' Fraser also discovered the power of gaining a network of women coaches from multiple sports. 'The connection and the community you gain is indescribable,' she says. 'We had a full spectrum of experience in our cohort. There were a few women at my end, who were new to an HP or pre-HP landscape, and really finding our feet and our confidence. So having that support and those tough conversations was life changing. 'You really have to lean in. You don't know what you don't know, so you have to jump in with both feet.' Fraser's mentor was Richard Smith. 'It was great as I already had a connection with him,' she says. 'We made gains quickly. We still meet for coffee, and I know I can always approach him.' Two other cycling coaches have since joined the Te Hāpaitanga sisterhood – Rushlee Buchanan and Tessa Jenkins. 'We're building our own network directly for our cycling environment,' Fraser says. When Fraser finished her Te Hāpaitanga programme mid-2022, she saw the residency experience advertised. 'I wanted learning in action experience on the ground,' she says. With Cycling NZ's commitment to women coaching and wanting to give them the opportunity to work in an HP environment, it was a priority to support Fraser to keep her in the sport. Fraser successfully secured a one-year residency at Cycling NZ's headquarters in Cambridge, but there were snags. 'My life and my job were still in Christchurch,' Fraser says. 'The Police gave me 18 months of unpaid leave, and my supportive partner said, 'Go! You can't lose this opportunity'.' She'd worked through the apprehension of returning to Cycling NZ after her testing years there as an athlete. 'But I felt I could make an impact from the inside, rather than looking in and being frustrated. I was proud of what I'd achieved with the athletes I was coaching, and I thought I had something to offer more people,' she says. 'Cycling NZ was going through changes. And I felt ready, I'd done the work.' In June 2023, Fraser became the Cycling NZ development endurance coach, for both male and female riders – a revolution for the sport. 'At that point we didn't have a pathway. There were high performance athletes at the top, then people doing their bit in the regions. I worked with Fionn Cullinane, the sprint development coach, and we took the HPSNZ framework and made it work for bike riders – developing athletes in the pre-HP space ready to shift into HP,' she says. 'As a cyclist, I'd stepped straight into high performance from rowing. If I'd had that middle ground where I could feel out the system and the system could get to understand me as well, I think it would have gone better for me. But it just didn't exist at the time.' Then other opportunities arose. Nicole Murray enjoyed working with a female cycling coach. Photo: Thomas Hamill Photography Five months out from the 2024 Paralympics, Brendon Cameron – the lead Para cycling coach – asked Fraser if she would work with Murray, who was looking for additional support in coaching. 'Nicole wanted someone who understood the more human side – someone rich in empathy, who could deliver clear and concise information trackside,' Fraser says. She worked in a coaching team with Murray's long-time coach, Damian Wiseman, who continued to write her training programme. 'I was leading the coach interaction space outside of that, and as a unit we sat down and fleshed out what it would look like and how it would play out. We got the communication to a really good place, and everyone was happy,' Fraser says. 'Nicole was amazing at the Games. She narrowed in on performance and was so professional.' And Fraser was everything Murray needed from a coach at the Games. 'She was level-headed in the moments where I was panicking. She picked up on it, without us having to speak about it,' the Paris bronze medallist says. 'She has such great energy all the time. She bounces stuff off us and keeps us all in good spaces. She recognises what role to play for each person – she can easily be a friend, but she's not afraid to lay down the law. 'I've worked with a lot of coaches through my career and I enjoyed having a female coach. It's also about having a balanced workplace – everyone bringing different strengths. But it helps when you're working with a female coach – there's less that needs to be said.' Four weeks later, Fraser was coaching New Zealand's two female riders at the world track championships. Earlier that year, she'd spoken to Cycling NZ about the next step in her development, and they backed her bid to attend the pinnacle event. That's when lead women's endurance coach Paul Manning presented Fraser with a game-changing opportunity. 'I don't know if many other coaches would have done this, but he said, 'You're the coach, you're leading. I'll be in the background managing if you need me',' Fraser says. Manning saw it as the ideal next step in her high performance journey. 'I took a step back and thrust her forward to lead. It was a fulfilment of her journey to that point and a good test at that level,' he says. 'It was a huge opportunity, but nothing to be afraid of. We talked about how she just needed to impose herself a little and own the trackside. She's done very well, and she's certainly crammed a lot in, in a short space of time'. At the end of Fraser's year-long residency, Cycling NZ made her role permanent. And she's continued working with Helene Wilson, the Women in High Performance Sport lead. 'We know women are relational,' Wilson says. 'And if we don't keep those connections up, then we won't be successful at what we're doing. The learning that happens personally is just as powerful as the learning you get from being around other high performance coaches.' The NZ endurance track coaching team. Photo: Thomas Hamill Photography Fraser's new role entails developing athletes, coaching other coaches, 'supporting up' by helping the high performance coaches, and special projects, like the Paralympics opportunity. 'To do everything really well is a lot. And I set myself high standards,' she says. Surrounded by an all-male coaching team brings its own set of challenges, but there are positives, too. 'Female coaches have a different skillset, a different approach and a broader understanding of some of the issues affecting female athletes. The wider life stuff that's going on doesn't always come out with a male coach – opening up to a female coach can make a difference,' Fraser says. In her personal development, Fraser has honed her leadership style, embracing 'courageous authenticity'. 'It's about stepping into your voice, your truth, having conversations that are meaningful to you. Not sitting back and saying nothing when things don't sit right with you. I'm now able to speak to people about what needs to happen,' she says. 'I'm more comfortable working in smaller groups, or one-on-one. I still have to learn to deliver to a whole team. 'But I've learned to be vulnerable and honest about how I'm finding things and the gaps I see. Cycling NZ as a whole is shifting. Sending me to worlds showed they're willing to invest in their people and make positive change for the future.' One area Cycling NZ could continue exploring, Fraser says, is coach development. She's now pushing up-and-coming female coaches forward for opportunities like she's had. She's now a mentor to Tessa Jenkins, who travelled with Fraser to development camps for young Kiwi riders in Malaysia and Melbourne. 'Elyse is awesome. She's super approachable, no matter how busy she is. But I think that's what makes her such a good coach – her ability to manage people and assess priorities,' says Jenkins, a school cycling coach encouraged to do Te Hāpaitanga by Fraser. 'Her experience and knowledge is really critical in helping the development of the young coaches. Attending world champs and planning the development of our riders is pretty inspiring – especially for females, because she's really the first female coach we've seen come through. 'She inspires me to keep seeing what's out there.' This story originally appeared on the High Performance Sport New Zealand website and is published with permission
RNZ News
28-05-2025
- Business
- RNZ News
Shake up of Sport New Zealand in the pipeline
The funding of elite athletes means trade-offs need to be made, says an independent review of Sport NZ Photo: Photosport / AFP A shake up of Sport New Zealand is being undertaken following an independent review into the organisation which is responsible for sport and recreation nationally. Sport New Zealand also includes High Performance Sport New Zealand (HPSNZ), which funds elite sport and has an annual budget of $194 million - $84 million of which goes to HPSNZ. The review was carried out by Brendan Boyle, who has is a former chief executive of the Ministry of Social Development, Department of Internal Affairs and Land Information NZ. Boyle suggested there should be a review of Sport New Zealand's current strategy, stating the organisation faces strategic choices and trade-offs when it comes to investing in the likes of Olympic medals and success versus national sports participation. The main recommendations focus on potential changes to governance arrangements, which Sports Minister Mark Mitchell said he will follow through on. The review noted "current arrangements create a potential conflict of interest for Sport NZ in being both policy and advisor as well as the decision-maker for funding." It added "(that) make(s) it difficult for Sport NZ policy to be well integrated into the wider government policy network and agenda." That will see Sport NZ's policy function move to the Ministry of Culture and Heritage from October. Mark Mitchell, Police Minister, Minister for Sport and Recreation Photo: RNZ / Marika Khabazi "Shifting the strategic policy function to a government agency will ensure a more consistent and integrated approach on government priorities and other policy decisions across portfolios like education and health," said Mr Mitchell. The review also recommended disbanding the HPSNZ and Taumata Māori boards and consolidating them into a single board and creating HPSNZ and Taumata Māori advisory groups. It noted though that rationalisation was unlikely to provide any cost savings and "any change would be driven by strategic reasons rather than an expectation of savings." The government has rejected that recommendation, opting to keep the current three board structure of a Sport NZ board, an HPSNZ board and the Taumata Māori Board. Boyle said questions raised during his review the indicated a strategy review was also needed to ensure "whether funds are all aligned to government priorities." "This will also aid in clarifying what the minister wants the focus and core business of Sport to be and by implication what it should not be spending resources or funding on." Boyle pointed out Sport NZ proposes to stop the funding of Hawaiki Hou, a community-led programme to improve physical activity levels among children and young people. This will free up $9.5 million that can be reprioritised into other sport and recreation programmes.
NZ Herald
01-05-2025
- Sport
- NZ Herald
Gisborne judoka Sydnee Andrews wins silver at Panamerican & Oceania champs
Andrews went into the final ranked over 25 places below world No 2 Souza and put up a strong fight before losing by ippon. It was Andrews' third appearance at the continental championships and came just two weeks after she placed fifth at the Dubrovnik Senior European Cup in Croatia, further underscoring her rising profile on the world stage. Reflecting on her Santiago performance, Andrews said she was 'feeling good coming into the weekend' and credited her team coach and fellow New Zealand team members for their support. Andrews trains with the Camberley Judo Club in the United Kingdom but was home over the summer holidays, during which she trained and helped with coaching at her Gisborne club. Gisborne head coach Jason King was delighted with Andrews' showing in Chile and said it augured well as she looked towards qualifying for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics. The now-22-year-old made her Olympic Games debut at the 2024 Paris Games after winning bronze at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham. Her success and development have seen her become part of High Performance Sport New Zealand's Tailored Athlete Pathway Support programme, which provides selected athletes with financial backing and performance services tailored to their stage of development. This support enables her to train and compete at the highest level year-round. At Camberley in London, Andrews trains full time under head coach Luke Preston. The centre is a hub for elite international judokas and provides an environment that supports her Olympic aspirations. She will remain in London for most of the year, returning to New Zealand at the end of the season. Next on her schedule is the Benidorm European Open in Spain, followed by a four-day training camp as she continues her push to remain in the top end of the world and Olympics ranking lists.
