Confusion around rules causes upset
It just doesn’t feel like the way we should be treating young kids in sport.
Darren Twiss
Darren Twiss’ 12-year-old daughter, Amelia, competed in the North Island School Mountain Bike Championships in March. She took part in the Under 13 girls crosscountry and enduro races, finishing third and second respectively.
The family was made aware of the “no medals” for homeschooled children policy by Cycling NZ before the event, which Twiss says he thought was a “bit of a dumb rule”, but accepted it.
Nevertheless, he was surprised during prizegiving that the homeschooled athletes who completed their races within the top three were called up to the podium and acknowledged with certificates, separately from other athletes.
Amelia, who is a member of both the Tauranga and the Rotorua mountain bike clubs, was not allowed to remain on the podium while the medals were awarded.
Then the mainstream-schooled first- and second-placegetters for the cross-country were called up and photographed.
“I realised at that point this is why we got the certificate and separate thing because she’s not allowed to stand up on the podium,” said Twiss. “It just felt wrong.”
During the enduro race, Twiss could see by the timings coming through that Amelia was likely to place again, and was concerned the same thing would happen. He asked if the prizegiving could be done differently by allowing Amelia to at least stand on the podium with the kids she raced against.
He was told that homeschooled children were not eligible for medals or the podium. However, when Twiss checked the Cycling NZ website, he could find no mention of podium ineligibility.
During prizegiving for the enduro race where Amelia had the secondfastest time, and despite being called up individually to receive a certificate, she was again not included in the placings, with the girl who finished third being put on the second-place podium.
“It just doesn’t feel like the way we should be treating young kids in sport,” said Twiss.
Cycling NZ said “Our understanding as event facilitators was that homeschooled riders were entitled to compete and take their place on the podium when achieved, but would not receive a medal. However, this was not conveyed with sufficient clarity at the presentation at the North Island Schools MTB and CNZ has apologised to the family.”