KEY POINTS:
It's to be hoped Sparc scoops up Sarah Ulmer as a sports ambassador because a better one could not be found.
Throughout her career Ulmer has remained a fierce competitor, a shining example of sportsmanship, accessible to fans and media, cheerful and positive, even when forced to retire
because of a sciatic nerve problem.
Typical of Ulmer, then, that in telling us she could not stand to compete at less than her best and that she was "hanging up my wheels", she chose to mention the volunteers who gave their time to help juniors including herself.
"After 1 1/2-years of rehab I needed a greater than 50 per cent chance of surgery to warrant having any part of me sliced open and surgeons couldn't guarantee that. So I've decided that it's time to rip into that [new] life now ... a life that I thought I wouldn't be ripping into for a few years."
She recalled "the Manukau Velodrome in Auckland, those volunteers who gave up their weekends to stand at the side of the track in Auckland's roaring southwester, the secondary school waterfront time-trial organisers who gave us a good fun reason to race bikes when we were at school, the guys in the track team who treated me as one of the guys, teammates on the road who I've worked with in New Zealand and squillions of miles away from home. And all the support staff who worked with us for no other reason than to see us succeed".
"There's something pretty special about the team spirit that a Kiwi team creates when you're away from home and that's something that I'll miss more than most. Having countrymen from teammates to mechanics that you're going into battle with against the world, relying on them, having them rely on you, is an amazing feeling," she said, "Win or lose."
It must have been a tough decision to make because she's taken 18 months to make it. Bottom line - track cyclists don't get any faster once they pass age 30 and Ulmer is 31. So she's made the right choice.
It'll be good to see Ulmer involved in sport as a motivator. She has heaps to offer and the personality to deliver results. In retiring, she mentioned squash queen Susan Devoy as someone she had looked up to. It's a good comparison, they're from the same golden vein.
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Moving on to Graham Henry, he shouldn't bother reapplying for his job today. Clearly, if he had the confidence of his masters they would not have opened the position to others.
Henry handed the South Africans the momentum of two Super 14 semifinal wins before the World Cup, he failed to equip the team with the mental application to dig themselves out of a hole in the quarter-final, he asked everyone to judge him on the World Cup result.
Had the All Blacks won, the smart move would have been to allow him one more year while a succession order was worked out, not to re-sign him for the 2011 World Cup. Fact is, athletes tend to stop listening to a coach after four to five years. "I've heard all this before" takes over. The seniors start looking out the window and it becomes a pervasive attitude.
Henry should move on graciously. Robbie Deans' time is now. How bad would it be if the NZRU passed Deans over, he went to Australia and the Wallabies beat the All Blacks at Eden Park in 2011?
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Good to see John Wright appointed to head development at NZ Cricket. Wright is a solid, no-nonsense character with a proven track record as player and coach. And what better guy to uncover a couple of decent opening batsmen and bring them through?
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Funny how little we've heard from Team NZ about the America's Cup court fiasco.
They're all over the media when they want taxpayers' money via Government funding, sponsors and buyers of red sox.
I don't want any more of my tax or other money wasted on supporting a team that is unable to compete for two years while rich foreigners fight court battles. Especially when all I get at times of crisis is a terse three-sentence press release with no chance to put questions.
Next time they come looking for money, a $1000 levy on all the flash boats moored on the Auckland and Wellington waterfronts should be imposed - they wouldn't even miss it.
