Kylie Cox – The Healthy Athlete Project - MSS, PGDipl.SportsMed., BPhty
Kylie is a Physiotherapist with post graduate qualifications in Sports Medicine and Sport Science.
Kylies’ special interest is the female athlete, in particular adolescent and young women in sport and lower limb injuries.
She currently holds the role of NZ Secondary Schools’ Physiotherapist for Netball New Zealand and has also worked with the Basketball New Zealand U17 team.
Kylie also works as an educator on female athletic health and well-being. Her goal is to work with athletes, coaches, whanau, and support staff to improve awareness of female health related issues and in promoting best practice support of the female athlete.
Esther Hone
Ko Ngātokimatawhaorua te waka
Ko Whiria te maunga
Ko hokianga te awa
Ko Kokohuia te marae
Ko Ngāpuhi te iwi
No Ōtepoti ahau
No Whangarei te kāinga
Ko Esther Hone toku ingoa
Tena Koutou, Katoa
Esther, a dedicated advocate for holistic water safety learning, is committed to ensuring the NZ aquatic industry strengthens and expands its knowledge in water safety.
Currently the Water Skills for Life Interventions Lead with Water Safety NZ (WSNZ), Esther brings to us her 25 years of experience in the swimming and water safety industry.
Water Skills for Life is a program that teaches the crucial water safety skills for all ages. Swim teachers play a vital role in ensuring student engagement and motivation by incorporating creativity into the lessons through real-life open water scenarios, encouraging critical thinking and creative problem-solving, and using innovative techniques or equipment. Ultimately, creativity in a lesson means thinking outside the box and adapting to different environments and situations.
By embracing creativity, teachers bring an engaging and exciting learning experience for their students.
Join Esther as she shares practical examples and strategies to help us infuse creativity into our own water safety and learn-to-swim lessons.
Karla Gunby
Currently the Active Communities Manager at the Christchurch City Council, Karla Gunby is an advocate in engaging community groups to incorporate more physical activity into their programmes for health and wellbeing.
With a strong background in community development, Karla previously was the manager Multiple Sclerosis and Parkinson’s Canterbury, managed the Multicultural Services Centre for refugee and migrant services in Wellington and has been a manager of disability services in both London and Melbourne.
Presentation Workshop
Karla will explore barriers people face on the journey into, and within, a swim school environment.
She will workshop what those barriers could be as whanau navigate accessing a swim school for tamariki. She will also look at examples of ways we/you can address them in your situation.
Dean Kent
Chief Operations Officer at Northern Arena in Silverdale, former 3-time NZ Olympic Swimmer, Dean will be sharing one of his current ‘projects’ in the learn-to-swim space. Grateful to be in his current position, Dean’s swimming life now allows him to pass on his lifelong passion for swimming and surf life saving throughout the people he leads at Northern Arena, the students he teachers and through his own family and community.
Presentation.
Time in motion, quantity of feedback, and positivity of feedback. Measuring your experienced team and helping your junior team close the gap.
Amanda Hoddy
Amanda, a mother of two boys, has been swim teaching in the Christchurch City Council’s Swimsmart programme for 10 years, specialising in parent/child and pre-school swim education. Her passion is empowering families in their safe water journey.
The NZ drowning rates are unacceptable. Amanda strongly believes we need to change our water culture, which is why she has developed water safety education sessions for pre-schoolers and their parents.
Amanda grew up in Perth (Western Australia) and was surrounded by water. She nurtured a strong calling for water. At just 3 years old she would climb the neighbour’s pool fence and go for a splash! And this is where her aquatic journey began.
Amanda still fondly remembers her first swim instructor and how she passed on her passion for water, an impact she knows we can have on the children we teach each week.
A national level swimmer for six years (specialising in breaststroke, butterfly and individual medley) Amanda’s competitive pool journey was stopped due to injuries, prompting her to change her swimming goals, turning to open water swimming - competing in events ranging from 1.5km to 19.7kms distances.
Presentation - Practical workshop
In Amanda’s water-based session, she will take you through part of her water safety programme with a focus on the importance of educating both the children and their caregivers. We need to remember how powerful our role can be in influencing good water safety practices.
David Dunn
David and his wife, Clare, have been baking for over 30 years. With a passion for great tasting food and after a comment from a friend wanting a ‘decent snack bar’ they identified a gap in the market for real wholefood snack bars.
Bootstrapping (using their own funds and having full control over the new business venture) they started TCWB – The Crafty Weka Bar.
Selling their bakery in July 2019, TCWB became their sole focus, now successfully exporting to Australia, USA, Singapore, and the Middle East.
This exciting growth has meant David and Clare had to quickly transition from baking locally made pies, donuts and doing catering jobs, to thinking about how to support and expand a brand globally.
Presentation:
The best strategy for success is learning the art of being healthy, happy and smiling.
Contentment within different situations, sweating only the big stuff and having the understanding that there is a solution, an outcome to every problem, will bring a state of happiness and satisfaction.
Life is a book full of chapters, some good, some bad and you keep working for the last chapter remembering there are always opportunities for a sequel.
· There are a lot of moving parts with the word ‘success’.
· Sometimes you need mistakes to move forward.
· Business is a game of sport. It is exhausting, intense, and ruthless.
· You need to get in front of the competition.
· To get in front you need a team who can thrive together.
· True leaders don't create followers, they create new leaders….
· …and always keep positive when faced with new challenges. This will open up new opportunities and solution-based thinking.
TRACEY HICKMAN
Bio
Tracey is the national learner advisor for the aquatics industry at Te Mahi Ako. She has a strong passion for people and aquatics and has been in the industry for 35 years. Tracey has worked on the frontline and in management with not for profit, private and local government organisations, and since 2010 is part of the wider Te Mahi Ako whānau assessing swim education qualifications.
Still an active swim teacher, Tracey loves seeing a swimmer’s joy when overcoming barriers, learning new skills and feeling a sense of achievement.
Presentation Workshop
The aquatics workforce helps people enjoy the magic of being in the water while staying safe, having fun and learning new skills.
At Te Mahi Ako (part of Skills Active Aotearoa) we help you grow your workforce and empower your staff so they have the skills and knowledge to excel in their roles, through work-based education. With our support, you can upskill your team and provide them with opportunities to earn nationally recognised NZQA qualifications while they work.
From gateway to graduate, this interactive workshop takes a deep dive into our current qualifications and explores how they can best meet industry needs. We will discuss what the challenges are, future opportunities and what we want as an industry.
LEA STENING
Bio:
Lea is passionate about helping athletes and their families improve their physical and mental performance through better nutrition. A registered NZ Dietitian and Nutritionist with over 40 years of experience Lea specialises in Pediatrics and Sports Nutrition.
During her career Lea has worked in an extensive range of school sporting codes as well as the high performance and academy levels of New Zealand Cricket, New Zealand Rowing, and New Zealand Paralympics.
Presentation:
How to build sustainable energy for better performance.
Research shows many children in NZ are dropping out of sport by the age of 15 years. This is often caused by being over tired, over worked and with injuries, which can be carried into adult life.
Children are not ‘mini adults’ they have specific needs for growth and development.
Lea will offer us practical solutions on how to fill the nutrient and energy gaps when growing children exercise. This includes what to eat and drink before, during and after training and competition to accelerate good recovery.
Lea will also address the importance of our own nutrition as swim teachers, coaches, or swim school leaders so we too can perform to our best.
Her latest book ‘How to Grow an Athlete: From Playground to Podium’ will be available to review and purchase at the conference.
Karen McMillian
Bio:
Karen’s lifelong association with swimming began as a country club swimmer in Otago and then as a volunteer swim club coach during her teenage years.
While studying a Bachelor of Education at Otago University she ran a small independent swim school, and once graduated from university Karen became a learn to swim coordinator at Wharenui Swim Club. She gained her Diploma of Swim Teaching in 1998.
A former Black Sticks Hockey team member representing NZ from 1992 – 2003, Karen still loves being part of a team by coaching hockey and participating in women’s team adventure racing events. She also shares her experience and skills as a Board member of her son’s high school.
Today Karen sees her role as ‘Chief Problem Solver’ at her swim school, MAC.
Presentation:
Recognising and celebrating our people.
Over the past 22 years with my husband Blair (who is a former elite level swim coach), I have owned and operated two swim schools in Christchurch. We have employed many people. Some stayed for a few months, others stayed for many years . . . we even had one who purchased one of our swim schools from us.
Staff retention is always a challenge in our industry, whether as small private operators or running larger facilities.
I will be sharing our journey of successfully recognising and celebrating staff. And giving tips and insights into:
· How managers, or owners, can increase staff retention.
· What can we do to empower our staff to be great team members and employees.
· How to ensure employee satisfaction is high in the workplace.
Dan Abel
Bio:
Dan is a former competitive swimmer and SNZ national medallist, who swam collegiately in the USA, and joined the air force as a navigator but continued his connection with swimming.
By chance he was drawn into the explosion growth of open water swimming in the UK, and now is instrumental to its growth in NZ. You’ll find Dan very active in lobbying and facilitating access to open water swim opportunities, organising local swim opportunities such as lake swimming, open water coached groups, open water swim racing, and managing adult swim holidays under his brand RealSwim Adventures.
In New Zealand Dan runs FitandAbel.com – a small adult focussed swim company teaching and coaching adults to swim predominately in and around Christchurch.
Presentation:
Why my focus is adult swimming.
Did you know adults are the biggest swim participation category and growing?
They are also the most likely group to get into trouble in the water, and the least likely to ask for help.
My presentation will explore some of the different teaching focusses we use, especially in open water swimming.
I will share some of the unique challenges we face, and how we have found successes.
Adult swimming is also the least represented when it comes to resource allocation. We believe it’s essential we continue to focus on developing adult swim accessibility.
In addition to swimming for water safety, adult swimming is vital for health and wellness. Health and wellness is one of our key business pillars and should be factored into any swim program. I look forward to sharing our experiences and ideas.
Janelle Pallister
Bio
Recently awarded her Platinum Coaching Licence, Janelle Pallister will share many of her coaching beliefs, lessons, insights and ‘the how tos’.
Starting as a learn-to-swim teacher to help young children enjoy swimming, Janelle never set out to be a coach. She only ever wanted to help children and athletes be the best they could be. This ‘best they can be’ approach is still her driver and mindset today, as co-coach with Michael Bohl at the High-Performance Program on the Gold Coast, Australia.
No matter what level of swim coaching you are involved with currently, you will take a lot away from Janelle’s presentations. From coaching mini-squads 22 years ago to now coaching world class elite squads, she will share experiences we can value and learn from. Janelle will present on at least three occasions during the Together.23 conference.
Married to Rick Pallister, they have two adult children, Owen and Lani. Beyond the swimming world Janelle tries to stay as healthy as possible. Her love of photography gives her perspective of the world around us, taking her vision beyond the expected to creating something deeper and more meaningful in her photographic work. It’s easy to see why Janelle excels at all she does.
· Current Co-Coach to Michael Bohl
· Current Co-Coach High Performance Program Gold Coast Australia
· Gold and Platinum License holder.
· Australian Team Coach Commonwealth Games 2022
· Australian Team Coach Junior World Champs 2019
· Australian Team Coach Junior Pan Pacs 2018
· Australian Team Coach Junior Worlds Champ 2017
· Head Coach Griffith Uni National Age Program 2020-2021
· Head Coach Cotton Tree Club 2017-2020
· Head Coach and Owner Alex Swim Club 2011-2017
· Assistant Coach Alex Surf Life Saving Club 2009-2018
· Coaching since 2001
Anna Simcic
Bio:
Anna was a former high-performance athlete competing for NZ as a swimmer from 1989-1996.
She represented NZ at two Olympic Games placing 5th and 6th and competed in two Commonwealth Games winning a gold and two silver medals. A highlight of her career was setting a World Short Course record in the 200m Backstroke at the Paris World Cup in 1992. Anna was consistently ranked in the top 10 in the world during her swimming career and experienced competing in the NCAA’s in the American Collegiate championships for the University of California Berkeley, securing second place in the 200m Backstroke.
Currently working for High Performance Sport NZ as a Performance Life Coach Anna is passionate about wellbeing and working with people to realise their potential. A mother of three children, she believes in a values and strengths based approach and brings energy, compassion, and humour to the work she does.
With a background in high performance sport and working with athletes, Anna understands the importance of identifying transferrable skills and managing multiple commitments to plan for success in and out of the sporting arena.
Presentation Workshop
Anna will speak and work us through the importance of wellbeing and how we can develop some strategies to manage ourselves through our daily lives.
Sammy Lawson
Sammy manages Sport and Recreation Programmes for Selwyn District Council, including their Swim School of 3,500 students. As a qualified Speech and Language Therapist, her interest and passion has always been helping students with additional needs to learn to swim, specialising in adaptive teaching. A swim teacher of well over 14 years, it is at Selwyn where Sammy has created a large, successful, specialised adaptive aquatics program.
Presentation:
“How often do we hear or say ‘this class is full of naughty kids’ or ‘that kid just does not listen’?
In Sammy’s presentation she will explore the idea that a significant portion of children who are labelled as “naughty” or “incapable of listening/learning” just need their teachers to adjust the way they teach to meet their student’s specific needs and to employ excellent behaviour management. And whilst that sounds complex, often it’s less complex than you think!
Sammy will explore common learning needs seen in group classes and how to approach them. After all, “if a child can't learn the way we teach, maybe we should teach the way they learn.”
And and in-water session - Sammy will be part of the practical water workshop which follows her initial presentation
Sammy’s in-water session will share her ways- how to support children with higher-needs through a child-led lesson. She will cover wandering, sensory needs, giving feedback; a seemingly unstructured lesson that delivers excellent results.
Carl Petersen
Carl is an Applied Sport Scientist and Senior Lecturer at University of Canterbury. He lectures in Strength and Conditioning, supervises PhD students with a research interest in enhancing performance and personally undertakes applied swimming research. Carl has run dryland training at the University for age-group through to elite level swimmers for the last 5 years. Carl completed his sport-based PhD from the University of Western Australia and the Australian Institute of Sport, under the supervision of Swimming Physiologist Prof. David Pyne.
Presentation:
"How microtechnology can enhance swimming performance".
On the January 1, 2023 World Aquatic’s rules changed, permitting wearable technology in competition.
“The use of technology and automated data collection devices is permissible for the sole purpose of collecting data. Automated devices shall not be utilised to transmit data, sounds, or signals to the swimmer and may not be used to aid their speed”.
For over 2 decades microtechnology has been routinely utilised in other sports’ competitions, changing coaching and training practices: devices are becoming more economical, more teams are adopting them for performance development.
Swimming will soon have the same opportunities. The technology is here now and this presentation will demonstrate ,with practical examples, how you can use microtechnology to improve insights gained from race analysis and swimmer conditioning practices.
Josh Haythornthwaite
Josh is the Secondary Programme Leader at the New Zealand Graduate School of Education in Christchurch, guiding secondary intern teachers to achieve their teaching qualification. He joined the graduate school following a high successful classroom teacher career as part of the tutor team at Christchurch High School. During his classroom days he was quickly promoted to Dean and Assistant team leader of Social Sciences. Josh regularly shares his expertise in class culture building and behaviour management.
Josh lives by the sea and spends every minute he can on the beach with his family – often with a good local coffee in hand.
Presentation Workshop:
“Teaching is tough and is probably getting tougher.”
For a teacher to be successful, and for their students to learn, there are a number of fundamental skills that a teacher needs to have in their arsenal. One being to manage student behaviour confidently and effectively. This presentation will introduce you to behaviour management skills and tools essential to the smooth operation of lessons, many uniquely developed by the New Zealand Graduate School of Education in Christchurch leaving you empowered to apply these new learnings with your students.