Palmerston North Man to Coach Olympic Team

Palmerston North Man to Coach Indonesian Olympic Team

Palmerston North man Andre Richards will soon travel to Jakarta to take up a position as Physical Conditioning Consultant to the Indonesian Olympic Movement.

Andre has just completed a Bachelor of Human Performance at UCOL. He goes straight into a job as one of five conditioning coaches working with up to eight hundred athletes, across twenty different codes.

“I’m looking forward to working with Olympic athletes heading toward the 2012 Olympics in London. It will be good to see the benefits of the conditioning for full time athletes who are already competing at the top of their field,” he says.

Currently Andre is volunteering as a conditioning coach for the Manawatu NBL team the Jets, and has recently worked with the Central District Stags cricket team on their training camp. Andre says it was a really good experience to work with the Stags, as they are a very hard working team and are currently leading the State Trophy and the State Championship.

Andre says his lecturers at UCOL encourage students to get as much volunteer work as they can while they are studying, to complement the classes and build up their experience working with athletes and teams. He is over the moon with his progress since finishing the degree. “My feet haven’t touched the ground since I finished studying in October. The Stags are currently leading the State Championship and State Trophy, we’re getting good feedback from the Jets, I’ve just got back from the Crusaders training camp, I graduate in March, and I’ve got this amazing new job!”

Andre says physical conditioning is an exciting industry to be coming into right now, as it is so new for New Zealand sport. “It’s only since we’ve had the super 14 competition that we have been talking in the language of strength and conditioning here, and it will grow in the next few years, and become an integral part of any team.”

Working with large teams overseas will provide the opportunity to build a wide range of experience, and to work with top international athletes. Andre says eventually he would like to position himself so he can look for top jobs back in New Zealand.

“As with any venture I undertake, I go into it at 150 percent. I’m looking forward to coming back to New Zealand eventually, and who knows - maybe being a conditioning coach for the Black Caps or All Blacks one day,” he says.

His first priority in Indonesia will be working with teams towards the Southeast Asian Games in Laos in October 2009, and he says he will be keeping a close eye on the Stags and Jets scoreboards from Jakarta.

ends

© Scoop Media