January 2025 Issue No. 17
Koutou ngā matanga nō te ao hākinakina, tēnā kotuou
Happy New Year!
Welcome to the first edition of Coaches Kōrero for 2025.
Coaches Kōrero has been established to recognise and celebrate our Performance Coaching community in New Zealand.
In this issue we have two quality profiles, Ben Sawyer coach of the World Cup Winning White Ferns and Antonia Harrison, coach of the New Zealand A beach volleyball programme.
We would like to take the opportunity to celebrate and recognise five coaches who are finalists in the upcoming Halberg Awards – Gordon Walker (Canoe Racing), Cory Sweeney (Rugby), Jon Andrew (Cycling), James Sandilands (Athletics), Aaron Osborne (Canoe Slalom).
In addition, we would also like to acknowledge coaches
who received New Years Honours – Ian Foster CNZM and
John Hart ONZM.
As a body a key driver is celebrating the coaching
community. It is great to see the above coaches
receiving special recognition for their efforts.
Our primary focus for 2025 is building our commercial
base so we can operate as an independent and
sustainable organisation. To achieve this objective, we
need to build a vibrant membership base.
I would strongly encourage you to join Te Korowai as
we are building a genuine value adding programme to
support you as coaches.
The annual membership fee is $360.00 per year or
you can pay monthly ($30) by establishing a 12-month
Automatic Payment
If you would like more information, you can contact us on [email protected].
Ngā mihi,
Tom Willmott
Chair
Ben Sawyer
(NZ Cricket White Ferns Head Coach)
Following a long list of success stories with other teams,
coach Ben Sawyer had to persevere a little longer before his time with the WHITE FERNS turned the cricket world on its head.
On a record 10-game losing streak heading into the United
Arab Emirates-hosted T20 World Cup tournament last
October, the WHITE FERNS form book went out the window as a much-maligned squad, driven by belief and inspired by a new generation of rising stars, went on to win a first T20 International Cricket Council (ICC) women’s title.
Antonia Harrison
Antonia Harrison recalls being screamed at by a coach who
would throw chairs and break clipboards. But it inspired her to be the exact opposite as a coach.
Harrison is the head coach of the New Zealand A beach
volleyball programme, returning home after playing and
coaching at North Florida University.
