A former English Premier League fitness trainer has swapped his football boots for a Queenstown blackboard. Emma Russell reports.
Ed Baranowski is a man with no ordinary past - he has over 22 years' experience training an array of top English footballers and the Wellington Phoenix.
He is now the Southern Institute of Technology (SIT) personal training programme manager, based in Queenstown.
The top trainer says his career stemmed from ''a youth of passion and drive for football''.
''Just like a Kiwi kid's love for rugby, in the UK it's soccer.
''I played as a young kid, got into the school team, captained the school team, supported Leeds United, went to all their games and that's how it all began.''
Initially working in health and fitness, he became a personal trainer and owner of three gyms but it was not long before he was invited for a six-week trial as fitness trainer for the Blackburn Rovers.
He was ultimately offered the position with a side that went on to win the premiership under the management of Liverpool legend Kenny Dalglish in 1995.
''Training with Blackburn Rovers and winning the Premier League against Manchester United was probably the top moment in my football training career.
''Manchester United were the team with all the money and won it year after year, so for a team to work its way up from the table below was almost unheard of for that time.''
The English football league is the most-watched in the world, broadcast in 212 territories.
When he first walked into the Blackburn Rovers changing rooms, some of the players were smoking cigarettes minutes before they were due to play, Mr Baranowski said.
''Football was a working man's game so there wasn't much interjection on conditioning nutrition.''
Following the success with Blackburn Rovers, Mr Baranowski spent 18 months with Newcastle United, during which time it gained a second placing at the Premier League and an FA Cup final appearance.
He then landed his dream job, spending four years with Leeds United.
During that time, the team jumped from the bottom half of the premiership to the top four playing in Europe.
That success led Mr Baranowski to Manchester City, working under manager Joe Royle and then to Bolton Wanderers, under manager Sam Allardyce.
With all this experience under his belt, it might be difficult to understand why Mr Baranowski is lecturing at SIT in Queenstown.
Like many others, he says he fell in love with New Zealand while on holiday with his wife in 2007.
They decided to stay.
Within a year, he was offered a fitness training position with Wellington Phoenix.
At that time, professional football in New Zealand was ''decades'' behind, he said.
''I was not even aware that there was only one professional football team.
''I worked on the assumption that every country would have a league with a multitude of clubs.''
His experience was put to good use, also training the New Zealand men's U21 side and Mainland Football before he decided to return to his roots, joining SIT's personal training programme.
Now in his second year with the Invercargill-based tertiary education institute, Mr Baranowski has just been named a finalist in the New Zealand Exercise Industry Awards' Educator of the Year in the Educator, Initiative and Community Awards Category - nominated by his students.
''It's like making a final at Wembley.
''It's been a great journey, and knowing that it came from the students is something special.''
He would continue teaching in Queenstown, but he was always looking for a new challenge.
''You don't want to live in the `comfort zone'. For me, it's always a case of `what next?'
''[My father] was an athletic, hardworking carpenter and a very disciplined man.
''He used to tell me `if you are going to do something, do it with the best of your ability'.''
That's a lesson Baranowski tries to teach his students, encouraging them to ''give it everything''.
''The buzz when [the students] graduate is a bit like winning the premier league.''
Winners of the awards will be announced next Saturday.
