Tai Wynyard is off to the USA to play basketball for the University of Kentucky. Photo / Dean Purcell
Tai Wynyard is off to the USA to play basketball for the University of Kentucky. Photo / Dean Purcell
Sport is a growth industry and, for many parents, it is seen as a vocational pathway for their talented kids. In part two of this four-part series, Dylan Cleaver looks at the role of the school in athlete development, particularly in Auckland where going to the 'right' school is seen by many as increasingly important.
Tai Wynyard made a big announcement this year.
In January, the 2.01m power forward made public the fact he would attend the University of Kentucky on a basketball scholarship.
The country could have been forgiven for shrugging their shoulders in a collective "meh", but those with a close connection to hoops would have immediately understood the significance of the decision - UK is one of the USA's basketball powerhouse colleges and perennially supplies the NBA with talent. If Wynyard makes the first team, he's going to get national exposure. If he plays well, the chances are he'll end up a very wealthy man when he enters the NBA draft.
"That's the No 1 place for getting people to the NBA," Wynyard said at the time. "That's something I've wanted to do since I was a little boy.
In the USA, going to the right school means everything. Overwhelmingly, entrance into the big four leagues - the NBA, NFL, NHL and MLB - is achieved through universities, or colleges as they call them. So, too, Olympic teams.
In New Zealand, the importance of university sport has been watered down, or perhaps more accurately if you look at Easter Tourney, alcoholed down. When it comes to our football codes in particular, if you're at university and you haven't already picked up a professional contract, chances are time has passed you by.
All of which has had the effect of placing a huge onus on secondary schools to prepare students for a life in sport, a task only a few have the capability of doing. Fields that were once full of carefree idyll are now teenage stockyards, with talent scouts and coaches looking for The Next Big Thing.
Just look at what happened last year with Taniela Tupou, the Tongan Thor. One minute he was charging around the fields of Sacred Heart, the next he was involved in a Super Rugby tug o' war between Australian and New Zealand franchises. Rieko Ioane, brother of wunderkind Akira, was contracted to the Blues out of Auckland Grammar.
Rieko Ioane starred for the New Zealand sevens side in Wellington. Photo / Getty
The ITM Cup, once the crown jewel in rugby's talent production line, is being usurped by 1st XV rugby.
"Some kids and parents are being asked to make really big decisions while they're still at school," says Rob Nichol, head of the NZ Rugby Players' Association and Athletes' Federation.
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For many, the first big decision happens while still at primary or intermediate school.
"I'm hearing more and more parents say if they don't get their kids into the big schools, they won't make it," says Roger Mortimer, former manager to Olympic gold medallists Sarah Ulmer and Hamish Carter, among others.
The big schools he's talking about are Auckland's sporting behemoths, Auckland Grammar, Mt Albert Grammar, King's College and St Kentigern. The latter three are now co-ed.
Other schools might be good at particular sports, or have cycles where they're unusually strong, but sources say more and more of Auckland's sporting power is be coming concentrated in these schools.
The perception from parents of talented kids in metropolitan areas where there is a lot more choice, is that certain schools provide an advanced pathway to stardom.
While it might not be strictly true - there are numerous success stories from what we might term lesser sports schools - perception can often be reality.
"It's a huge worry because that is the perception," says Tony Sail, former Auckland cricket coach who heads up MAGS' cricket programme. "Rugby might be slightly different with the Big Five or Six or whatever they like to call themselves but, with cricket and football, I don't necessarily think it is as important.
"If you've got a kid with talent they're going to make it if they're good enough because the sports themselves have talent ID programmes.
"The parents' perception is that it is important, but school is just part of the process. The club experience before they get to school is what is really important."
Sail's belief might run counter to what many in his position, or similar positions, feel but he has a simple message for those obsessed parents he sees every Saturday on the sidelines. "We're talking too much about school sport in Auckland now.
"In most sports, the clubs are better resourced to run sport than the schools," Sail says, using cricket as the prime example.
"Schools are not offering great programmes now. Westlake Boys' had 20 teams not long ago but they're in single figures now. The standard of school cricket has dropped significantly."
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Not so rugby.
First XV rugby has, unquestionably, never enjoyed the profile it has now. Depending on where you stand, that is both a blessing and a curse. Rugby has always held an esteemed place in traditional boys schools, but the live broadcast of games on Sky's Rugby Channel ratcheted it up another level.
It also gave a boost to the channel, with former executive producer Martin Crowe saying it added tens of thousands of subscribers to No64 on the decoder.
"We know there are customers who take the Rugby Channel to watch 1st XV rugby specifically," says Richard Last, Sky's director of sport.
The Auckland Rugby Union has taken Sky's initiative one step further, broadcasting games from their 1A competition on a dedicated YouTube channel 1st XV TV.
In the Herald on Sunday, MAGS principal Dale Burden explained why he thought the venture was a bad idea.
"We think it's a bit too much. We are talking about 15, 16 and 17-year-old boys and we want them to have some balance at school so they don't think rugby is their life. Once in a while is okay, but we don't want it too much."
It's a quote that had educationalists cheering, but a few of his counterparts blanching.
Unfortunately, his is also likely to be a lonely voice. Schools are seduced by the bright lights. They see it as an opportunity to reconnect with their moneyed alumni. For private schools, the exposure helps when they're trying to lure fee-paying students, but even state schools have got into the 'business' of running sports academies - most of which have dubious merit.
Nearly everybody you talk to concedes we have now reached a point where the rich schools are only going to get talent-richer and the poor schools will continue to feed the rich, but there will be no turning back
"I can't recall any negative feedback, what has got to us at Sky has been really positive," Last says. "In this modern, professional era of sport, it's helpful to have some experience with TV and media before potentially being thrown into the limelight right out of school. It can help the students and it helps the sport, giving it exposure and creating a following of what is a really exciting competition and the breeding ground of new talent."
Which could have come from any brochure. What Alex Chiet, talent development manager at Sport NZ says, is to focus on the "reality". Each sport has its "own pathway that is underpinned by evidence".
It is inevitable that some schools, and clubs it must be said, who have their own motivations, deliver contradictory and sometimes damaging messages to kids who are intrinsically driven, who want everything now, and who want to be Dan Carter tomorrow.
"They think, by definition, winning is good sport. But an over-emphasis on winning means kids are not learning to make mistakes, and are unable to develop resilience."
School sport still plays a vital role in the health and wellbeing of boys and girls. It still is an opportunity to learn concepts that are difficult to teach in the classroom, like teamwork and camaraderie. Lifelong friendships and memories are still created on school fields and courts. But as Nichol said so concisely, kids are being asked to make really big sporting decisions really young.
Tai Wynyard and the Tongan Thor, to name just two, can testify that.
In recent years, there has been a proliferation of academies and camps - some within schools, some within clubs or regional sports authorities and some by privateers - set up with the aim of taking kids to the next level in their sport. Sometimes they work, but some in the sports sector are increasingly concerned about the vague promises and high costs of such programmes.
Before enrolling your children in any of these programmes, you should:
1. Check with the National Sporting Organisation involved. According to Sport NZ's talent identification manager Alex Chiet, they should be able to provide you with a clear pathway for your child to progress in their sport. If you think the academy or programme aligns with this pathway, investigate further.
2. Make sure you know exactly what it is you're paying for. If it is essentially just tuition in that sport, ask for the coach's credentials and a detailed plan of what the academy or programme will supply your child. It might be that your club or school can provide the similar services a lot cheaper. "It is important kids and parents are not brainwashed by people at these academies who have ulterior motives," says head of the NZ Atheletes' Federation Rob Nichol.
3. Ask yourself these fundamental questions. Will my child benefit in the long-term from the academy or programme? For whose benefit is the programme? Does it take a holistic approach to the child or will it reinforce the one-dimensional notion that my child is a swimmer/ footballer/ rugby player?
