Canoeing: Coaching issues led to sackings

Paul MacDonald and Ian Ferguson. Photo / Paul Estcourt

A damning review of the performance of kayaking coaches led to the axing of Olympic icons Ian Ferguson and Paul MacDonald.

Half the athletes considered their respective coaches had not been helpful to their performance and the review painted a picture of poorly planned and poorly timed training programmes and a sport that was dysfunctional and riven with infighting at the elite level.

Canoe Racing NZ dropped the pair after the review commissioned by the sport's new high performance manager, Wayne Maher, following the world championships in August.

The Weekend Herald was released part of the report under the Official Information Act. The 11 athletes, four coaches and two support staff who attended the championships were interviewed for the review, which was conducted by two Sparc high performance consultants and Lynda O'Cain, coach performance adviser for the New Zealand Academy of Sport.

Of the four coaches at the world championships, CRNZ did not renew the contracts of Ferguson, MacDonald and Andras Szabo.

Ferguson and MacDonald claim they are the victims of a conspiracy and that the sport will suffer without their expertise. Ferguson has been involved in coaching the national team for 20 years in which time only Ben Fouhy has won an Olympic or world championship medal.

The review says: "Only 50 per cent of athletes reported that coaching had a positive impact on their performance."

It lists as other "significant issues" regarding coaching:

* The majority of training programmes were not well planned (not individualised nor well timed) leading up to the world champs.

* The application of sport science was reported to be inadequate.

* There was a major conflict between the coaches that distracted support staff and athletes from their core role.

Under the heading "Team Culture" the review said there were "significant levels of conflict" between some coaches and Maher, between the coaches and between athletes of at least one boat.

Recommendations included recruiting coaches capable of meeting the individual coaching needs of potential medal-winners, collaborating with other coaching staff, and integrating sport science, data analysis and technology into their coaching. CRNZ retained the fourth coach, Gordon Walker. It has appointed an interim coach (Andrew Towns) while it seeks two further coaches.