New Zealand’s sporting success is not by accident

Doesn’t New Zealand do well when it comes to sporting achievement on the international stage?

Especially when you consider at 4.5 million people we stack up at 0.06 per cent of the world’s population. So we aren’t a threat on those statistics and don’t exactly fit into that super power category – but we certainly do make our presence felt when it comes to international sporting competition.

Here is some context to that argument.

In line with last Saturday’s blockbuster World Cup match at Eden Park, in Auckland, Cricket Australia reported a record revenue of $295 million last October. The New Zealand Cricket revenue number was $50 million.

Clearly New Zealand’s broadcast deal adds up to a fraction of Australia’s $1 billion.

The old adage of we do ‘‘punch above our weight’’ can easily be thrown into the mix around those ‘‘office water cooler’’ conversations on Monday mornings – or have we gone past that traditional statement or cliche? I think we have moved on. Yes it is always going to be relative in terms of consistent success on a major scale like the American’s (population – 319 million), Russians (population – 143 million), the UK (population – 64 million) and even our neighbours Australia (population – 23 million).

But when a New Zealander is at the startline in international competition, the opposition know that they need to bring their A game.

In some cases if you think of Valerie Adams, Hamish Bond, Eric Murray, Lydia Ko or the All Blacks, the oppositions ‘A’ game over recent years on the global sporting stage hasn’t cut it because those New Zealand athletes, mentioned, are just too good.

Sport New Zealand can take a lot of credit for this evolution.

Of course it is helped by Kiwis’ sporting DNA – where we love the thrill of competition. There is an underpinning resilience that when the going gets tough, that New Zealand sportsperson will keep coming at you until the final blast of the officials’ whistle. That Kiwi language equates to – we simply don’t give in.

The national agency delivering sport, aptly named – Sport New Zealand, has clearly identified and adopted two strategies to compliment that New Zealand sporting prototype – where those inherent genes of attitude, resilience and aggression in sport resonate automatically.

Those strategies are community sport; the major and vitally important participation arm of Sport New Zealand and of course the high performance component. Within this, a three-pronged attack will also ensure that there are always opportunities for all Kiwis to participate; there will be clear pathways through sport where they’ll be well defined and well supported; and finally our outstanding high performance athletes will be as well prepared as they can be to take on the world.

Australia appears confused on whether their historic centralisation model (in Canberra) should come back in vogue, or continue on with their decentralised approach. The size of our nation is proving the centralised model at the high performance end is paying great dividends.

The Rowing NZ programme at Lake Karapiro and now Cycling New Zealand’s Avantidrome, Cambridge, equivalent model is sending warning shots across to those respective global sporting populations.

Sport is part of who we are as New Zealanders. Our job is to ensure that sport continues to enrich the lives of New Zealanders and that we continue to inspire our nation. The Black Caps are a glowing example of the positive impact that sport plays in this country. Stayed tuned, it will only get better.