EIT degree student Dylan Thomas, who plays in the New Zealand under-21 hockey team, with High Performance Sport New Zealand’s Criss Strange.
Plans for the recently-announced AUT Millennium Hawke’s Bay venture are warming up, with a workshop recently held by High Performance Sport New Zealand attracting some of the region’s most promising young athletes.
Hosted by EIT, the one-day workshop was delivered by Criss Strange, athlete life advisor and athlete services consultant for High Performance Sport New Zealand.
Applauding the Hawke’s Bay initiative for a physical literacy through athlete development pathway, Criss says it provides a big incentive for local athletes, preparing them to meet the requirements of their national sports bodies without the need for them to relocate to a bigger centre.
A biomechanics lecturer in EIT’s Bachelor of Recreation and Sport programme, Marcus Agnew is leading the physical literacy and active for life initiatives run by AUT Millenium Hawke’s Bay.
He says two tiers of support are being offered to emerging young athlete groups.
“The pathway to Podium athletes are the top group and in Hawke’s Bay there are three. The Hawke’s Bay Athlete Development programme covers the wider group.”
Key partners – Sileni Estates owner Sir Graeme Avery, EIT, Sport Hawke’s Bay and the Hawke’s Bay Regional Sports Park – are backing the vision for a community-wide facility, based at the sports park.
“This will be the first branch out of the Auckland-based AUT Millennium Institute of Sport and Health,” Marcus points out. “It’s raising massive eyebrows.
“Hawke’s Bay most promising young athletes have been disconnected from national centres for sport development, and they haven’t had the back-up they’ve needed with their training.
“Yet Hawke’s Bay has New Zealand’s fifth biggest urban population.”
Marcus says the new regional hub will promote physical literacy and healthy lifestyles as a basis for an active life, for all the Hawke’s Bay community to be the best they can be, including those with competitive aspirations such as young athletes in this group.