For a long time, Myka Nuku and Peter Cowan were accustomed to putting their heads down and doing their own thing to drive Cowan’s performance in para waka ama.  Winning a Paralympic bronze medal changed that.  For the years leading into last year’s Paris Paralympic Games, Nuku (Ngāti Mahu, Ngāti Kahungunu) had a plan for […]

Although Kat Jones wasn’t raised in basketball surroundings, it’s a sport which is now very much part of the family. Husband Phill and their three children, Maia, Ava and Hayden all heavily involved in the sport, with Kat being the head coach for the New Zealand 3×3 U23 women’s side.  Growing up in Dunedin, it […]

Charlotte Scanlan’s love for rugby league spans from the highest level all the way down to the kids running around at their local park. A former Kiwi Fern, Scanlan now works as a Community Manager at the Warriors Community Foundation, sharing the benefits the sport can bring to many across the motu. It’s something that’s […]

As a former high-performance athlete, Steve Kent knows first hand the sacrifices that need to be made if you want to reach the top of your chosen sport, or, as in his case, sports. With his elite competition days behind him, it’s now about giving back for Kent, who is the Black Fins campaign lead […]

Like many sports fans, Natalie Lawrence has ‘the moment’ – a play which drew her in to football, capturing her imagination, then her heart, setting her on a path which would take her around the world. Paul “Gazza” Gascoigne, EURO ’96 versus Scotland. “It was an incredible goal, with an iconic celebration, and I spent […]

A now or never moment led Jon Andrews on the greatest ride of his career and following seven exhilarating days at the Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines Velodrome in Paris he became New Zealand’s most successful Olympic cycling coach. As the Lead Sprint Coach of a small team of four women – daughter Ellesse Andrews, Rebecca Petch, Shaane Fulton […]

For someone who didn’t set out to become a coach, Scotsman Murray Buchan is now well and truly ensconced, his destined career path eventually landing him in New Zealand and into a veritable field of dreams. Plying his trade initially for Snowsport Scotland and GB (Great Britain) Snowsport, Buchan has quickly added his lustre to […]

When Jenny Armstrong was three days old her parents brought a boat for the family and named it “Jenny”.  What began was a life of sailing that has taken Armstrong all over the world and back to her beloved Dunedin where she now lives with her family.   “I guess my fate was sealed as a […]

As he turns 70 years of age, Kevin Smith shows no sign of slowing down. In fact, quite the opposite; in some respects he’s just getting started. Smith has been involved in lawn bowls since he was 17 years old, when he watched his brother pick up a national title. Since then he’s done pretty […]

Somewhat quietly, Gary Stead has put together an impressive record as Blackcaps coach over the past six and a half years. And that’s just the way he would want it. “I like to win but don’t let the results define me,” he says. “The results happen because of a group of people you have around […]

When a struggling young track cyclist reached out to Elyse Fraser for coaching a few years ago, it unexpectedly set Fraser on a new path. The former elite track cyclist and police officer didn’t have cycling coaching on her horizon and now she’s forging a pathway for female cycling coaches. “I was taken aback because […]

Becoming an athletics coach was never part of the plan for primary school teacher Nuree Greenhalgh. Despite coming from a family of coaches and having competed nationally in the 400m and 800m, Greenhalgh was content supporting her daughters from the side lines—until a pivotal moment changed everything seven years ago. Judy Revell-Lewis, the mother of […]