The Bay of Plenty Times Weekend today continues a series celebrating our region's sporting elite - athletes who are among the nation's best in their sport and, in some cases, the world.
Canoe slalom: Luuka Jones and Mike Dawson
Luuka Jones
Luuka Jones has come a long way from her first Olympics in 2008, when as a 19-year-old she became the first female kayaker to represent the country in the competition's canoe slalom.
Since Beijing in 2008 and London four years later, the 26-year-old has upped the ante by dedicating herself full-time to her sport and training with a professional coach.
She says the support of High Performance Sport New Zealand and her coach, British Olympic canoe-slalom medallist Campbell Walsh, has been crucial to helping her achieve her best international result yet.
Jones achieved 10th place at last year's world champs after coming second in the semifinals.
Mike Dawson is training in far-flung corners of the Earth, but the 28-year-old canoe-slalom champion credits his youth in Tauranga as helping take him to the top of his sport.
The former Tauranga Boys' College student is seven-times national champion and was a semifinalist at the Olympics in 2012.
Hockey: Gemma Flynn, Rose Keddell and Sam Charlton
Gemma Flynn
Tauranga is home to three of our national women's hockey team, including the side's most experienced player, Gemma Flynn.
The former Tauranga Girls' College student and girlfriend of All Black captain Richie McCaw has played 190 games for the Black Sticks and is only one of three players on the team to have played more than 150 matches.
The 24-year-old is a veteran of two Olympics - Beijing in 2008 and London in 2012. She rates her career highlights as winning gold at the Commonwealth Games in Delhi in 2010 and reaching the semifinals of the London Olympics.
Flynn completed a degree in sport and exercise science last year and is also keen to grow her business, The 100% Project, which she runs with former Silver Fern Maree Bowden and high-performance trainer John Quinn.
Like the rest of the national team, Charlton is focused on next year's Rio Olympics and says the Black Sticks face tough qualifying competitions this year to make the cut.
But Charlton, who played at the London Olympics, is hopeful of success and would like to still be playing at the Tokyo Olympics in 2020.
Charlton loves hockey for its speed and different components - "You need to be fit, fast, strong, skilful, have good game awareness and hand/eye co-ordination" - and her last 20 or so games for the Black Sticks she has played in the midfield, a change from her usual role as defender.
Former Bethlehem College pupil Rose Keddell balances the Black Sticks' tough training schedule with study and a busy life in Auckland.
Rose Keddell
Keddell says she and her teammates "live like professional athletes" in terms of their training, but many need to work because "hockey doesn't pay much".
Keddell is interested in doing television sports presenting in the future, but for now her main focus is hockey - and the Rio Olympics.
Her rise to the Black Sticks forced her to grow up quickly, she says, and she has worked hard to improve the mental side of her performance as a midfielder.
Michael Cochrane competed at the world juniors in 2010 and world university games in 2011, and is now eyeing next year's Olympics.
He would like to tackle the 110m hurdles at the 2018 Commonwealth Games, saying it is not on his agenda for Rio because it will take him longer to develop form for that event. When he can, he trains with two other Tauranga athletes and New Zealand's fastest sprinters, Joseph Millar and Kodi Harman - who featured in our series last week - to build his speed.
Former Tauranga Boys' College students Tyler Boyd and Ryan Thomas are living their football dreams.
Ryan Thomas
The 20-year-olds both made their debut for the All Whites in March last year and are signed with European clubs.
Neither player could be contacted this week, but their journey from under-12 Tauranga rep teams to international success is one they appear to be enjoying.
