Kia ora tātou,
Today marks one year to go until the 2026 Glasgow Commonwealth Games.
Glasgow has stepped up to stage a modified version of the Games with 10 sports across four existing venues and without the traditional athlete village. They will pioneer a leaner, more sustainable model for major events, designed to inspire future hosts across the Commonwealth.
While we don’t know exactly how Glasgow 2026 will shape the Commonwealth Games of the future, we can be sure that, as always, next year’s edition will have connection and competition at its heart.
In this HPSNZ Update our General Manager of Performance Partnerships Eddie Kohlhase gives his insights on what to expect in Glasgow.
As you may have seen in the media, last week the Court of Appeal made a ruling in the case of The Athletes’ Cooperative versus HPSNZ.
In December last year, the Employment Court found that High Performance Sport New Zealand (HPSNZ) was not required to enter into collective bargaining with The Athletes’ Cooperative (TAC) because we don’t employ athletes. TAC applied to the Court of Appeal for leave to appeal that decision. The Court of Appeal last week rejected TAC’s application.
We welcome that decision from the Court of Appeal. We believe the Employment Court decision clarified our role and relationship with athletes, and also made it clear this was primarily a matter of law.
This has been a long process that has taken several years to resolve. We now look forward to moving on and ensuring we are supporting our NSO partners to create high performance environments where athletes not only thrive but are also heard and involved in decisions that impact them and help them to be the best they can be.
We are now less than seven months away from the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games and in this HPSNZ Update we check in with alpine skier Alice Robinson and her support team as they count down to February next year.
Head of Performance Psychology Dr John Sullivan puts the spotlight on ‘Team dynamics and mental wellbeing: the power of belonging in sport’.
And we continue celebrating 25 years of New Zealand’s unique Prime Minister’s Scholarship programme, by catching up with some of the earliest recipients in the first of our ‘Where are they now’ stories.
Ngā mihi
Raelene
Glasgow 2026 countdown begins
Today marks one year to go until the start of the Glasgow 2026 Commonwealth Games.
Eddie Kohlhase, High Performance Sport New Zealand’s General Manager – Performance Partnerships, shares his thoughts into how these Games differ from previous editions, their role in preparing athletes for other multi-sport events, including LA 2028 and Brisbane 2032, and their significance for non-Olympic sports.
Milano Cortina 2026 – Team Alice focuses on the familiar
Just on seven months out from Milano Cortina 2026 there is an air of calm surrounding Team Alice, the tight team supporting Super G, Giant slalom and downhill racer Alice Robinson.
HPSNZ Update spoke with Alice, her coaches Nils Coberger and Tim Cafe, along with HPSNZ performance nutritionist Carolyn (Caz) Cruden and performance psychologist Mariane (Maz) Wray. Four words kept recurring as each of them talked about the Milano Cortina campaign – BAU, normalising, formalising and experience.
25 years of Prime Minister’s Scholarships – swim class of 2001
NZ Athens 2004 bound swim team – Hannah McLean, 2nd from left bottom row
With the Athens 2004 Olympic cycle underway, the first group of northern region Prime Minister’s Athlete Scholarships featured the large swimming squad based out of pools around Auckland and subsequently the then newly built Millennium Institute of Sport and Health pool in Mairangi Bay.
Among the group of swimmers and an inaugural scholarship recipient was Olympic backstroker Hannah McLean, now an HPSNZ Performance Life Coach and lead of the Prime Minister’s Scholarship internship programme.
For Hannah, receiving the Prime Minister’s Athlete Scholarship was one of the first recognitions she had that she was truly part of the high performance system.
Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic perspective – Mitch Brown
In this issue of HPSNZ Update, Snow Sport NZ lead snowboard coach Mitch Brown shares his Games experiences from Torino 2006 and Vancouver 2010 and how they contribute to his current role coaching New Zealand’s exciting group of snowboarders who will be Milano Cortina bound in just over six months.
Team dynamics and mental wellbeing: The power of belonging in sport
By Dr John Sullivan, HPSNZ Head of Performance Psychology
In the latest in our regular series on specific areas of mental health and performance, John discusses how team environments impact mental health and the importance of fostering a sense of belonging and psychological safety within teams. A link to a further resource is provided at the end of the column.
WiHPS Residency Experience leads to new opportunities
With the end of her two-year Women in High Performance Sport (WiHPS) Residency Experience in sight and a new career opportunity ahead, Triathlon NZ’s Women and Girls lead, Tammy Knapman (Reed), reflects on the journey she has been on and which is now providing her with an exciting change in career direction.
Tammy’s story goes back to 2016 with the establishment of Manawatu Triathlon Academy (MTA) which was designed to provide young, up and coming local triathletes the skill sets and capabilities to be the best.
Fast forward to 2022 when Tammy was selected to join HPSNZ’s Te Hāpaitanga cohort 2, an opportunity she describes as fantastic at a time when she needed a lot of personal as well as professional support.
The Power of Inclusive Leadership – stories of our people part 4
The final in our series of journeys which showcase the value and power of inclusive leadership features the way in which gendered learning has been organically interwoven through HPSNZ’s Women in High Performance Sport (WiHPS) initiatives.
The story is shared by three women at the forefront of WiHPS who’ve all experienced success in high performance coaching roles: Helene Wilson, netball coach and WiHPS lead; Jody Cameron, basketball coach and Te Hāpaitanga programme leader; and Angie Dougal, Olympic trampoline coach and Wā Kāinga Core Knowledge programme lead.
