But Sport New Zealand says it will not force changes on sports and it could take a generation for people to fully support changes occurring in junior sport.
In February this year, the North Harbour rugby union announced it would no longer field representative sides from under-14 and below. It said the teams had no relevance to players’ future prospects and put players off the sport.
The national union and fellow provincial unions quickly followed and within a couple of months all representative rugby teams from under-14 and below were scrapped.
In September, five national sporting organisations from rugby, cricket, hockey, football and netball, along with Sport New Zealand, signed a memorandum of understanding which aimed to bring the fun and development focus back to sport for all young people. That included less specialisation in sport when young and raising the awareness of over training.
Sport NZ national consultant for sport and development Alex Chiet said, when contacted, those five sports had been working hard and were trying to get everyone on board.
Some sports were simply not ready to make the change and it would take them a while, perhaps a generation. The leaders had to buy into the changes and then work it through the volunteers.
Sport NZ would not force sports to get rid of junior representative teams.
He said it was hard for many people to accept the changes as they were attempting to modify cultures and attitudes which had been around for many years.
‘‘Of course there will always be resistance. But people are starting to see the bigger picture,’’ he said.
Not all young people playing sport wanted to train at least two nights a week and play on Saturday.
He used the example of a Wellington college which had about a dozen football teams. Many pupils said they just wanted to play with their mates and not train.
So changes were made and the school ended up with 28 teams.
Chiet said the changes were not designed to prevent players developing and getting better.
What had happened in ice hockey in the United States showed the path New Zealand sport was going down was the correct one.
A US ice hockey official had just been in New Zealand to outline the changes the sport had gone through, Chiet said.
It had canned all representative junior teams 10 years ago and now participation numbers at all levels were going through the roof, Chiet said. The sport had a bigger and deeper pool of talent than it previously had.
In the past two years more players had been drafted from the US into the elite NHL than from Canada, the traditional home of the sport.
Chiet said that was what was most misunderstood about the changes. It did not harm talented players and was not all about wellbeing.
It was about creating all-rounders and giving young people an all-round experience of the sport.
More developments were expected to be announced in February.
