High Performance Sport New Zealand athlete life manager
Susan Thomason (left) and Otago Polytechnic chief executive
Phil Ker sign a memorandum of understanding at Logan Park
yesterday. Behind are (from left) Raelene Bates, Roger
Southby and Chris Morland. Photo by Gregor Richardson.
High-performance athletes in Dunedin will find it easier
to continue their academic studies while pursuing their
sporting ambitions thanks to the formation of a new crown
entity, High Performance Sport New Zealand.
Otago Polytechnic chief executive Phil Ker signed an
agreement yesterday with HPSNZ, formerly the New Zealand
Academy of Sport.
Ker said the agreement would give students a better
opportunity to choose what they wanted to study as well as
ensure they did not have to compromise study to fit around
training and performance schedules.
He said the agreement would allow athletes to complete their
studies with the help of the online environment, even if they
were competing in another country.
He called the agreement a "blended" approach and one that
would enable the polytech to cater for the individual's
sporting and academic needs.
HPSNZ national athlete life manager Susan Thomason said the
merging of the three former academy of sport bases into one
entity would create a "one-stop shop for athletes" to pursue
their academic and sporting careers.
She said there would be points of contact within HPSNZ that
would help athletes ask for help and get a good response.
The agreement is called the "athlete friendly tertiary
network" and so far Massey, Waikato, Victoria and AUT
Universities have signed up.
Thomason said the University of Otago was still in the
"pipeline" and she was confident it would be signing up.
"We are delighted to have four universities on board and
positive discussions with New Zealand's other universities
are under way."
The agreement states there will be a set of guiding
principles that will help create a supportive environment
that is conducive to athletes' achievement of both sporting
and academic excellence.
Otago Polytechnic head of institute of sport and adventure
Roger Southby said the agreement would help students, who all
had differing needs at different times, achieve an outcome
for life after sport.
He said in the past athletes' needs were considered on an
individual basis, but with this agreement there was an
acknowledgment the athletes needed to look after themselves
after their sporting careers.
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