"The school was incredibly supportive, so I'll always be grateful, especially as trampolining was quite a minority sport."
She gave the sport away when she headed to Otago to study PE and marketing, and then spent eight years teaching in Sydney. Only recently settled back in Auckland, she admires what the 2014 ASB award winner Dylan Schmidt has done in trampolining.
"Dylan has some phenomenal routines. I first saw him on the net and he's just at a whole other level," says Knight. She still follows the sport but is not directly involved in any coaching as such. She does, however, have a family tramp at home, so there is plenty of fun to be had for her and her 3-year-old boy.
Winstone remains the sole overall winner out of St Cuthbert's, and was the sole trampolinist to claim the top gong until Schmidt.
Dan Slater (Kristin) 1994
"Sailing is my life; it involves almost every moment of my day and I wouldn't change a thing."
That has been the mantra for Dan Slater, since even well before he claimed the 1994 boys' ASB award. That capped a stellar sporting year for the Kristin student, who had won the Laser class at the junior world championships.
"Definitely that was the start of wider recognition within the schools system. I'd been recognised within New Zealand sailing circles and even in North Harbour sport at junior level, but never at school level. It's kinda special, because they are your peers," recalls Slater, now 39 and living on the North Shore with his wife and young child.
In 1993 Slater, then at Auckland Grammar, came second in the junior worlds and thus claimed the yachting honour at the ASB awards. He switched to Kristin to cut down on travel time to training, and recalls the Kristin sailing team winning the first round of the Auckland zone competition before the strong Westlake team defeated them.
Slater's sailing career went from strength to strength, representing New Zealand at the 2000, 2008 and 2012 Olympics and was on Team New Zealand's boat in the America's Cup, among other achievements.
"Any time you can represent your country is a highlight. I was fortunate to be ranked in the open top 10 in every class I sailed from 1995 (until he retired from Olympic level in 2012). That launchpad from a youth award opened the gate for a whole lot of things I did in sailing," said Slater. "I'm fortunate to be able to make an income doing something I love."
Don't think for a minute Slater is putting his feet up. He helps run a company called the Water Shed in Takapuna, a water sports lifestyle shop which specialises in kayak and sailing gear. That goes gangbusters in the summer, but for much of the winter you'll find him in the Northern Hemisphere coaching the Dutch Olympic sailing team, though he still does some big boat professional sailing. He is still a member of the Murrays Bay Sailing Club.
Slater is the sole Kristin overall winner and the first of four yachties to win the ASB young sportsperson of the year.
