Flexibility key as sport evolves — Nation
You have been in office since the end of January. How do you find it?
Really enjoy. Every day is different, and that alone is very invigorating.
Why did you want the job?
A number of things. Sport was born to me and has enabled me to travel the world. Personally, it gives me happiness and health and great friendships. So I look at all the benefits that sport and physical activity can bring. That’s what it’s all about. On the high-performance side, I’ve been in that environment and that’s pretty much the tip of the iceberg. I look at society and our community and I just think that exercise and activity go hand in hand with a fit and healthy community. I think it was just a matter of timing to actually be ready to come back into the sport from a commercial environment and bring my skills to bear along with my sporting background and interest.
You already had a connection with Sport Otago, am I right?
Yes, so I was a trustee for six years. I had a really good overview of Sport Otago, but at a governance level, so coming in at an operational level is very different. I was fully aware of the breadth of what we’re doing here, and in the back of my mind I figured if the CEO role came up, I’d give it a shot.
What did you do before this job?
I was at ACC working with employers in the health and safety area. Got an MBA and then ended up at The Tarn Group, a technology company – online learning – and we’ve sold to many sports organizations. So I actually went out and talked to them. It was quite a sports-focused tech company. Then for the last few years I was with PKF Dunedin, the accounting firm, just as General Manager. Both roles gave me really great insights into small businesses and managing people and strategy. So I think there are good transferrable skills in the sports field.
The world is changing fast and sport is no exception. How does an organization like Sport Otago stay relevant?
This is a very good question. From our point of view, we have a fairly large catchment area. So it’s about getting out there and engaging with the community and making sure we hear what they want, be it sports or physical activity. We are moderators. We’re just trying to talk to the stakeholders, the children and the families to know where things are going. As long as we listen to them and get all the information from Sport NZ and our funders, with the ultimate aim of keeping people physically active. . . we have to use and use that. The sport is changing. We’ve seen the rise of futsal and other sports that might just be about just rocking out and playing with your buddies. That’s really developing. Competitive sport still has its justification, but there are also many people who just like to cycle or do something in nature.
Your predecessor, John Brimble, was very proud of the attendance and activity rates at Otago. Is this a particularly good part of the world to exercise?
Absolutely. And I think that’s where we have to make a difference. Why can’t we be even more active than we are? Great, we’re well above the New Zealand average. But why can’t it be more? We need to go to the kids who aren’t active and figure out how to enable them to participate and remove any barriers in front of them. That is always our challenge.
And in a post-Covid world? Any thoughts on what the coming years will bring for the sport?
Sport just has to be careful that it doesn’t price itself out of people’s reach. Sometimes it can be more of a hobby – OK, if I do something it’s on my own terms and I do it after work or whatever. From a sporting point of view, I think you have to be careful not to be too structured, too prescribed, because sometimes it just doesn’t fit into people’s lives. That flexibility – smaller games, faster games. Maybe Saturday sport isn’t always popular. So the sport will continue to evolve because it feels like people are becoming more selective in how they use their time. And I think sport has to work together and have these flexible calendars to offer what the kids want. It can’t just be what we’ve always done in the past.
Where do you come from?
Hawke’s Bay is home. But I went to boarding school at Christ’s College. My wife Sophie is from Christchurch. We were both students at Otago. When I retired from hockey we were living in Auckland with our firstborn and had no family there. So in 2010 I got a transfer to Dunedin. We gave him five years but it was the best move ever.
Children?
Max and Annabelle. Max is 9th grade at John McGlashan’s. Anabelle just started at Columba as a 7th grader.
Has ice hockey always been a part of your life?
I grew up on a coastal farm and we actually had a school on the farm. About 12 children. We joined another school up the road and ended up with a hockey team. Then we just made a hockey field on the farm. My parents played and trained. I played tons of other sports but probably realized I was doing pretty well at ice hockey in high school and one of my coaches planted the seed to play for New Zealand and go to the Olympics. That’s all I needed.
How old were you when you made your Black Sticks debut?
I was 22 I think. But it took me a couple of years to really solidify my place in the squad.
In the end you played 83 tests. What was the highlight?
I had a few. The 2004 Athens Olympics. The home of the movement and my first Olympics. That was great and a great experience. Then we had a knockout tournament in Auckland to qualify for the Beijing Olympics and we beat Argentina straight away. I was very fortunate to go to another Olympiad and it couldn’t have been more different from the traditions of Athens.
What lessons did you take with you from your time in top-class sport?
I think it’s just a matter of making it really clear where you want to go. I had a goal and I saw hockey as my vehicle to achieve it. Your goal comes from within. From a team perspective, culture accounts for 90% of how well you will perform. This means coaches, players and management know exactly where they want to go. I think we had it, but we never quite got it with the Black Sticks. I would like to say that we won a gold medal, but we never quite made it.
Do you still play ice hockey?
I became a Black Sticks selector this year. Really excited to do it. It feels very familiar to be back. The game has evolved, but how they work on a daily basis is pretty much the same. And I still play for my club, Kings United. I love it.