Sparc may look to spend more on talent spotting

Peter Miskimmin. Photo / Supplied

Sparc Chief Executive Peter Miskimmin believes talent identification is the main area his organisation needs to concentrate on to make use of increased funding through to the London Olympics.

Miskimmin recognises the value Australia - through its Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) - has placed in its cherry-picking mechanism.

"The AIS offers scholarships to younger athletes and takes them into those [elite sporting] environments earlier. That's what we're missing.

"As a result they are polishing athletes earlier and determining their futures earlier than we do. That's something we want to improve."

Miskimmin says Sparc is targeting areas like South Auckland where Sir John Walker is building programmes like Throw For Gold as part of his Find Your Field Of Dreams foundation.

"There's a hole in our talent development, so we're looking at programmes like that to develop power athletes so we can find another Valerie Adams.

"It is a nice fit for us, especially with Sir John on the ground with his people and infrastructure."

In response to the Herald on Sunday look into New Zealand's average showings at the last two Commonwealth Games, Miskimmin admits New Zealand sports governing bodies do not have the quality of high performance personnel they need.

"We have a dearth of high performance directors in our networks, so our plan is based around identify-ing them. There are people in the corporate world with sporting backgrounds who we would like to bring across but they need an intuitive understanding of coaches and athletes.

"They have to be able to manage, challenge and mentor people as well as keeping an eye on sports science, trends and what areas of a sport need development."

Miskimmin sees three ways of dealing with the lack of personnel: "First we have to look after the talent we have - like rowing's Dick Tonks.

"The next thing is developing our own people through elite schemes like the coaching accelerator programme which puts top coaches through a course over three years. The other mechanism is buying talent from offshore.

"We also know there are Kiwis coaching around the world and it is a challenge to bring them back. The difficulty comes with the fact they are generally locked into contracts between Olympiads, so we have to target people in advance to fill gaps in our system," says Miskimmin.

He does not believe there is much of a sporting administrative bureaucracy in New Zealand. He argues most organisations, including Sparc, are thin on personnel.

"The money we've got does not allow much empire building. There are just 12 of us at Sparc, much of the 'doing' is with the support of the New Zealand Academy of Sport. We need sports to take responsibility."

Part of the Sparc plan includes creating more athletes who can successfully change codes like Alison Shanks (netball to cycling) and Rob Waddell (rowing to sailing).

"For starters there is a chance to open up a whole new power sport environment and there was evidence of that in South Auckland the other day.

"New Zealand Olympic history has all been about big engines with an aerobic base like rowing and running.

"Now there is a notion we can develop a generation of power athletes in more sports from track cycling to bobsleigh to throwing events.

The crossover between rowing and cycling [Jaime Nielsen and Hamish Bond being examples] is also worth investigating.

"We know we'll never have the same money as other countries so we need to use it wisely.

"We still have confidence that 10 or more medals are gettable in London."