ROWING NEW ZEALAND / ANNUAL REPORT 2021
DOMESTIC ROWING REPORT 2021 W
Jock Mackintosh, Domestic Committee Chairperson
hile we had hoped 2021 would be a fresh start following a challenging 2020 with COVID-19, it became clear early on that we were set for another year faced with Covid-related disruptions. Rowing NZ worked hard to provide clubs with guidance as alert level information was established and changed over the lockdown period. While most regattas were able to proceed between lockdowns, the 2021 Rocket Foods New Zealand Championships was directly impacted, with the planned six-day regatta being run in three days after alert level changes allowed the event to go ahead. Rowing NZ would like to extend a massive thank you to South Island Rowing and all clubs, officials, and volunteers – there’s no doubt it was a very challenging time. With Covid came the ongoing need to use technology to ensure interactions and gatherings took place in a safe manner. Once again Zoom became second nature for many, and this has meant sharing, collaborating and consultation has occurred more regularly and with a greater range of members. This included the likes of the Domestic committee and the newly formed Coastal Rowing subcommittee. The New Zealand Masters Championships was successfully held in September 2021, with a really positive growth in numbers of rowers attending. Rowing NZ’s Race Official programme continues to be delivered with six new — 23 —
umpires qualifying during 2021, and work is underway to develop an Officials committee that will be charged with working with Rowing NZ staff to develop and shape umpiring and volunteering across New Zealand. The Domestic Rowing Committee would like to acknowledge the services of Sonya Walker who left Rowing NZ at the end of the 2021 summer after having poured her heart and soul into the organisation. In early 2021, Rowing NZ reached out to the community for expressions of interest for more coach developers. This process saw us bring on board five extra coach developers to bring the team for 2021 to a total of nine. The coach developers came together in April for development and training to prepare for the 2021 development delivery. One coach developer also attended the Sport Canterbury Coach Developer Training Course in April. Once again, the year was disrupted by Covid, however we still managed to deliver a total of 14 courses throughout the year. Of these courses, four were delivered fully online. These were planned online courses and provide us with an alternative way to reach coaches and an extra option for them to select. The online courses always had a variety of coaches from across the country. Overall, we delivered six Development Modules across Auckland, Cambridge, Wellington, Christchurch and two online, and eight Introduction Modules across Hamilton, Cambridge, Rotorua, Wellington, Nelson,
