Dave Clarke Sport Bay of Plenty, Coaching and Talent Development Team Leader

With the last week's announcement of the new Olympic sports to be considered for Tokyo 2020, it's a timely opportunity to highlight some of the potential future Olympic challengers who reside in the Bay of Plenty.

Currently Sport Bay of Plenty leads the regional Sport New Zealand Pathway to Podium (P2P) programme. This program supports emerging athletes who are 1-3 years off entering the high performance system. P2P is not a high performance programme; rather it prepares athletes for entry into the high performance arena with athletes being selected by their respective National Sporting Organisations. P2P initially targets the Olympic sports supported by HPSNZ which are athletics, para-athletics, bike, para-swimming, canoe racing, rowing, equestrian, rugby 7s (women), football (women), swimming, hockey, triathlon, netball and yachting.

The Bay of Plenty program currently has 8 athletes engaged from 5 different sporting codes. They are Amy Robinson, (athletics) Olivia Hay, (para-swimming) Abby Goldie, (athletics) Brooke Somerfield, (athletics) Aryhan Clarke, (rugby 7s) Rebecca Kersten, (rugby 7s) Fraser Sharp, (para-swimming) Hamish Millar, (triathlon). It's a two year program that has already seen 2 athletes from last year - Monica Faulkner and Paige Satchell move on to high performance carding with netball and football on World Cup campaigns.

Research had showed that athletes were entering the high performance system with differing levels of knowledge in core support services. Furthermore, first-time carded athletes were not transitioning smoothly into the high performance arena and as a result, their performances were dipping.

The goals of the program are to make the pathway to high performance sport clearer for pre-elite athletes and their coaches and get support around potential medal winners early on, to give them the best shot at future success. We need to develop self-responsible, resilient and driven athletes and provide training and education in a multi-code environment.

The key aspect of the program is to provide support and guidance for athletes, their coaches and parents in areas such as: athlete life, nutrition for sport, performance psychology, and strength and conditioning. Access to facilities and training as close as possible to their homes, families and peer support, until they're ready to enter the formal high performance system is also a key consideration.

The program is proudly supported by partnerships with the Sport New Zealand, High Performance Sport New Zealand, National Associations, Bay of Plenty Polytechnic, BayTrust CoachForce, Rotorua Energy Charitable Trust (RECT), Bureta Physiotherapy, and multiple performance providers in Tauranga, Rotorua and Whaktane who provide high levels of care and service for the athletes.

With Rio looming and Tokyo now on the radar it would be great to add to the Bay of Plenty's medal haul from previous Olympics.