Success attributed to positive culture

THERE was an air of anticipation waiting to see if an Otago player would be named MVP.

Imagine the excitement when there were three.

Jake Fowler (boys under18), Demi McAlwee (girls under18) and Hamish Faulks (men’s under20) were named MVP of their respective New Zealand teams at the recent Asia Pacific Youth Touch Cup in Australia.

Faulks, who made his Touch Blacks debut weeks earlier, was also the flagbearer at the tournament.

New Zealand sent six teams to the tournament — losing in the finals of all the grades — including a mixed under18, mixed under20 and women’s under20.

Otago coach Damian Burden, who was the New Zealand under20 mixed lead coach, was thrilled Otago picked up half of the MVP awards.

‘‘We were blown away,’’ Burden said.

‘‘For those three kids, they’re all super hardworking kids and that’s what came through as well.

‘‘Obviously they’re brilliant on the field, but all their coaches spoke about their attitude and their coachability.’’

Otago had 17 athletes compete at the youth cup with Brooke McAlwee captaining the under20 women, and three referees in Michael Buttery, Trey McLean and Carlie Rua.

Dayna Turnbull was the assistant coach of the under20 women.

Otago’s success was down to ‘‘quality people’’ creating a positive, family focused culture in the region, Burden said.

‘‘Right from the grassroots level, we’ve really put a focus into wha¯nau and into opportunities for kids.

‘‘There’s great running in a lot schools.

‘‘There are so many people doing a fantastic job there, right through to rep level and we’ve really built our capacity in terms of coaches as well.

‘‘We’ve got some really, really good coaches coming through the ranks, and again, who are really playerfocused and provide a really positive culture for the kids that come into those teams.’’ systems of our