As chef de mission, I think you've got to look at the circumstances faced by each athlete, understand their environment and do what you can to get them into the perfect frame of mind for competition.
HoS: Has your rowing background helped in the role so far?
RW: Yes, straight away I've felt like I've got an understanding of what's going on as an athlete, having spent the best part of 20 years in high performance sport. However, I'm guilty of probably not taking enough time to recognise the work which used to go in on the organisational side. I'm getting an appreciation for that now.
HoS: How much has Emirates Team New Zealand contributed to your management ethos?
RW: It's helped me understand what goes on in a wider team environment and opened my mind to the importance of meeting people and dealing with our commercial partners in the NZOC role. Before Team New Zealand, I spent years as an individual athlete but suddenly I was expected to help, motivate and work with the same guys who wanted to beat me on to the A boat. That is an unspoken thing in a team; everyone wants to be on the starting side, that's human nature. Fortunately we had a strong culture set by Sir Peter Blake and continued by Grant Dalton which said it didn't matter who was on the boat as long as it went as fast as possible. It's an unselfish culture, where you become a better team player by putting aside your own agenda.
HoS: Some see the America's Cup as a corporate event, some see it as an event between national teams. How do you see it?
RW: I've always thought of it as a positive thing for New Zealand in terms of the profile the country gets from it. New Zealanders are on crews throughout the event but I have always felt it's a national endeavour. As an athlete, it's a competitive thing regardless of whether you're racing for a corporation or a country. We felt proud of our New Zealand identity in San Francisco. The guys could've all gone and sailed elsewhere but stuck with Team New Zealand. It was a driving force in our motivation.
HoS: What role should families play in the management of New Zealand's Olympic athletes?
RW: Some athletes need a bubble to absorb the Olympic environment but we must also create the feeling of a wider team. I don't want to force anything on anyone but I know the wives and partners were a crucial part of our support system in San Francisco. I also think of the important role Sonia [Waddell's wife is a double Olympic rowing finalist in her own right] has played in my career.
In the past, New Zealand Olympic teams have had a good system of support. We tend to take four to five former athletes to the Games to help - and have blended that more with families, be it children, partners, brothers, sisters, mothers and fathers. In 1996, [at Waddell's first Olympics in Atlanta] my mother and father came and I found it beneficial to have them around.
HoS: How have your three children coped with travelling between Cambridge and San Francisco last year?
RW: Kids have a great way of bringing you back down to earth. We live on a farm where we look after a few racehorses and a small flock of sheep to tidy up the grass. We had a ram arrive recently. He was quite an athletic-looking ram and we needed to find him a name. I suggested Sir Tristram or Zabeel given Cambridge Stud is nearby but the kids decided Mahe was the perfect fit.
HoS: What's next on the agenda?
RW: I've got another scoping trip to Glasgow ahead of the Commonwealth Games and I'm off to check out Rio this year.
