Coaching Development

Cycling New Zealand has a purpose of Unlocking People Potential, at the heart of this is seeing the value in people for who they are today and who they could become in the future. The coach and athlete pathway aligns strongly with this purpose and how we can maximise the attributes of all those across the system as they interact with aspirational young athletes, coaches, supporters and administrators.

The values of Cycling New Zealand will deliver a positive experience as you establish your dreams and chase your goals as athletes within the system that is cycling in New Zealand, connected with the global sport.

We are honest and transparent, uncompromising in our commitment to strong moral, respectful and ethical principles.

We constantly look at working smarter and more efficiently – seeking improvement in all we do.

We aim high in everything we do, striving to be better in all we do.

We connect to achieve our purpose, we build trust in our relationships.

At CNZ we are dedicated to providing the tools, support and environment that enable individuals and the collective to experience a positive state of wellbeing. We strive to provide environments that are transparent, inclusive and promote continuous growth. 

As an individual we each have a responsibility to look after our own wellbeing. The Māori philosophy of hauora as displayed through the Te WhareTapa Whā model, describes health and wellbeing as a wharenui/meeting house with four walls. The walls represent taha wairua/spiritual wellbeing, taha hinengaro/mental and emotional wellbeing, taha tinana/physical wellbeing and taha whānau/family and social wellbeing. Our connection with the whenua/landforms the foundation. When all these things are in balance, we thrive. When one or more of these is out of balance our wellbeing is negatively impacted. It is important we learn to understand what’s important to us and to be deliberate about investing time and energy into our own wellbeing. In order to unlock our potential on and off the bike, we must be intentional around looking after ourselves as a person first. 

Cycling New Zealand is creating a legacy of performance in a number of events and disciplines. This legacy is driven through consistent performances in pinnacle events including Olympic and Commonwealth Games, and World Championships. Critical to this is the development of world class pathway and high performance coaches, connected with the structures and systems to drive coach development which enables a system of athlete development that grows the legacy.

This effective framework and pathway will drive more impactful coaching that will in turn enable more athletes to access targeted development that will drive world class performance through clearer tracking and understanding of their development. Critical to the success of these systems and programmes is:

1. Connection with the Core Knowledge coach development programme and HP Coach support system delivered by High Performance Sport New Zealand and supported by Cycling New Zealand.
2. Aligned with Cycling New Zealand High Performance Programme through the TAPS (Tailored Athlete Pathway Support) system that ensures appropriate level and type of athlete performance support within the developing riders’ daily training environments.
3. Developing the right people, in the right place at the right time to meet the needs of the developing athletes.
4. Aligning the developing coach with the ongoing development and competition structures of developing athletes.

Cycling New Zealand has identified the need to develop coaches to ensure well rounded and adaptable athletes who are able to perform on and off the bike. This holistic approach to coaching will ensure our athletes are physically dynamic, have world class tactical and technical attributes who demonstrate the work ethic, decision making and the ability to perform under pressure.

Alignment of programmes with the lessons of the High Performance programme is especially important to ensure clarity of pathway and development that supports future performance. To understand this, we looked at the history of our current and previous world class performers and their progression to world class. From this we were able to create a model that understand the progression of our current developing coaches and athletes throughout the pathway.

We understand that development is a non-linear, dynamic environment that will need to adapt and evolve as athlete’s progress through that system. Developing coaches that better understand the needs of these athletes is very important to ensuring the environment created is fit for the purpose of creating world class performers. 

Cycling New Zealand’s looks to align the coach and athlete pathways to identify the periods in the evolution to world class, outlining the environment, expectations and opportunities at each stage. Understanding the non-linearity of the pathway, athletes may have different experiences at each stage, they may move more slowly or faster than others. These must be factored into the individual requirements of the athlete to ensure progression through the pathway.

Framework for developing as a coach: