High Performance Sport New Zealand has announced some major changes to its processes in its newly released strategic plan, with emphasis placed on athlete welfare and providing funding to a wider range of sports and athletes around the country.
The $273 million strategy is designed to transform the high performance programme in the country in time for the 2024 Paris Olympics.
After several reviews into a number of sporting bodies around the country discovered an environment of bullying and toxicity, HPSNZ has emphasised the importance of a healthy working environment for athletes and coaches.
"Learning across the last two years have increased our awareness and understanding of the changes needed to prioritise wellbeing in the high performance environment," the strategy said.
There will be an increased investment in athlete and coach wellbeing initiatives as well as the introduction of up to eight full-time wellbeing manager roles sprinkled around sporting organisations throughout the country.
For athletes and coaches, it comes as a valuable addition to their support.
"It's absolutely crucial to have that support around the wellbeing of not just the athletes but the coaches and everybody within the programme," double Paralympic gold medalist Adam Hall said.
The strategy will also see the number of supported athletes increase from 560 to 920 by 2024, while $27.6 million has been allocated for the creation of an 'Aspirational Fund', designed to create investment opportunities in a wider range of sports.
Outgoing HPSNZ CEO Michael Scott explained the fund would help support athletes in a more diverse range of sports and across a wider geographical area.
"We are reaching down further than we ever have before into the regional level to grow that pipeline to make sure we're supporting the future athletes and coaches in New Zealand," Scott said.
It was welcome news for Olympic canoe slalom medalist Luuka Jones, who believed it would provide a massive boost for athletes like herself, competing in smaller and lesser known sports.
"It's huge," Jones said.
"I think back to 2013 when Mike [fellow Olympic slalom canoeist Michael Dawson] and I received support for the first time ever from High Performance Sport and the difference that made to us. We were able to invest in coaching support, we were able to tap into the services here — psychology, nutrition, physiology.
"That's translated into results on the world stage so for those aspirational sports that level of investment and just having that investment available will make a big difference to making the next step."
Other major changes include the move from annual funding to a four-year cycle of funding, allowing sports bodies to plan ahead and reducing pressure on athletes to perform in one-off competitions to retain funding in their sport.
The change will align with the strategies of many European countries, and would help New Zealand athletes reach their peak performance at the Olympics, something data had shown to not have happened in the past, Scott said.
Jones is pleased with the change, believing it will help reduce pressure on athletes to perform at every single event.
"Before the Rio Olympics, if we didn't perform it was unlikely that the following year we would receive any funding," Jones said.
"Each year trying to meet targets does put a lot of pressure on sports."
A base training grant of between $10,000 to $25,000 will also be available for hundreds of identified athletes to allow for full-time training and financial security, in response to feedback received from athletes during the consultation process.
Finally, a new performance hub will be established in South Auckland, to provide access for the community to high performance opportunities and reducing the cost and time of travel for athletes in the area.
Both Scott and Minister for Sport and Recreation Grant Robertson believe the new strategy is an important shift towards repeatable and sustainable success on the world stage.
"I believe this strategy will deliver the most important strategic shift since HPSNZ was created in 2011," Scott said.
"I think this is a really important step forward for us," Robertson said.
"I think it’s an exciting day, some important shifts and I look forward to seeing the strategy being implemented."
SHARE ME