Age Group Initiatives Launched in Hawke's Bay
- Apr 21
- 1 min read
Launch of Swimming NZ's National Youth Programme and Coaching Initiative
The National Youth Programme and Coaching Initiative got underway at the New Zealand Age Group Championships in Hawke’s Bay, to audiences of dozens of attentive coaches and parents. Combining messages of inclusion, patience and support, National Youth Coach David Lyles, and renowned coaching consultant Wayne Goldsmith shared their decades of experience in development programmes around the world.
“This is about giving people a chance, getting them involved in something and trying to make a difference to clubs, coaches and families,” said Lyles.
Head of High Performance Graeme Maw, explained that the Coaching Initiative is part of a raft of activity directly following from the recommendations of the Swimming NZ Coaching Review. The Swimming New Zealand Board is working to increase the importance and prioritisation of coaching within its overall strategy. Collaboration, including a Memorandum of Understanding, is underway with Swim Coaches & Teachers NZ; a licence or Coaching Card is under consideration; the NAGs forums marked the beginning of an annual series of development opportunities; and a resource platform is just weeks away from launch.
The resources from the Coaches’ and Parents’ Forums at NAGs can be found here:
In the coming weeks, these initiatives will be followed by a further workshop with Wayne at the New Zealand Swimming Championships in Auckland, the launch of the Lane4 Substack resource platform, a coach development roadshow delivered jointly by SNZ and SCTNZ in June, and, of course, SWIMCONZ 2026 in November. More details on all of these will be shared shortly.
The programme introduced both a National Youth Programme Slither io and a Coaching Initiative designed to support young athletes, coaches, and families.
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