ROWING NEW ZEALAND / ANNUAL REPORT 2021
HIGH PERFORMANCE REPORT 2021 I JUDITH HAMILTON, General Manager - Performance
2021 SELECTORS: Elite Barrie Mabbott (convenor) Gary Hay Under 23 Luke van Velthooven (convenor) Janey Wackrow Junior Janey Wackrow (convenor) Alex Meates Alison Storey North Island U18 Nick Barton Sean Durkin Robin Clarke Kim Dowden South Island U18 Josh Schmidt Tim Babbage Kirsty Dunhill
am pleased to report, off the back of a challenging 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the postponement of the Olympics in 2020, the Olympic Games went ahead with the rowing competition held at the Sea Forest Waterway, Tokyo Bay, Tokyo from 23 to 30 July 2021. Due to the government closing our border to all except New Zealand citizens, all returnees were required to go into Managed Isolation and Quarantine (MIQ) on return to New Zealand, therefore our other representative teams were unable to travel. This is now two years without age group/development teams having international racing experience. We are hopeful in the near future that our border will be open, for all teams to resume international competition in 2022. This year saw the introduction of our National Pathway focusing on the appropriate age and stage development of our potential representative athletes. Based on an extensive review conducted in 2019 and 2020, change was required to meet the needs of today’s young athletes. With the introduction of the National Pathway, the service agreements with our Rowing Performance Centres were not renewed. Post an Olympics, sports seeking money to operate their High Performance Programme must submit an extensive investment application to High Performance Sport New Zealand (HPSNZ) based on their investment criteria. HPSNZ have made key strategic shifts that we needed to align ourselves with; Performance —3—
A key focus over the past six months has been on how Rowing NZ provides support for athletes as they transition in, through and out of Rowing NZ’s high-performance programme. Pathways, Targeting Investment and Framework, and Wellbeing and Engagement. With the delay of the Tokyo Olympics and as a designated Tier 1 sport, HPSNZ gave Rowing NZ early indication that a minimum of 70 per cent of previous core funding would remain through to the Paris Olympics. Our investment bid was to seek further funding through to 2024. HPSNZ announced their funding decisions in December, designating rowing as a podium sport with an increase in funding received. WELLBEING In March this year, Tina Ryan started in the full-time role of Athlete Wellbeing Lead. Tina is responsible for providing overarching
