Future sporting talent celebrated at Mayors Function

Future sporting talent celebrated at Mayors Function

Wellington city’s sporting talent was celebrated at a function hosted by the Mayor and held at ASB Sport Centre on Tuesday evening. The function included a certificate presentation to the 50 athletes who are on the Sport Wellington led Wellington City Council Sports Talent Development Programme.

The programme, funded by Wellington City Council and managed by Sport Wellington supports a number of talent development projects aligned to national and regional sporting organisations. Sport Wellington works with these organisations to provide athletes and their coaches’ consultation with High Performance Sport New Zealand (HPSNZ) for development in a range of areas such as strength and conditioning, mental skills, personal development, injury prevention and rehabilitation and nutrition.

Councillor Paul Eagle was the MC on an evening that saw Mayor Celia Wade-Brown speak alongside Sport Wellington Board Member and Paralympic Gold Medallist Paula Tesoriero. The 2008 Beijing Paralympic Champion and women’s 500m time trial world-record holder had a number of key messages for the aspiring athletes in the room, encouraging them to ‘dare to dream and dream big, dream gold’.

Sport Wellington CEO, Phil Gibbons says ‘Sport Wellington is proud to be associated with this new wave of sporting talent from the Wellington region. As part of the Sport Wellington Performance Hub, this is an exciting programme that captures athletes that will go on to represent our region and New Zealand on the highest stage. I would encourage other councils in the region to partner us in this initiative given the long term gains it can make for the individual athletes, sport and the community’.

Athletes from six different sports were presented with certificates on the evening; these sports included athletics, hockey, kayaking, fencing swimming and football. Sports selected for the programme have shown potential for coaches and athletes to transition into the high performance environment.

Mayor Celia Wade-Brown spoke about the effect young sporting talent had on the region, saying ““Wellington City Council is very proud of the Sports Talent Development Programme. We’re passionate about the achievements of youth and the positive impacts that sporting success can have on our city.”

“Wellington is proud to place an emphasis on ensuring there are quality talent pathways for our young people – it’s important we do everything we can as a city to help them be successful and deliver on their dreams” added Councillor Paul Eagle, who Chairs the council’s Community, Sport and Recreation Committee

For more information please visit the Sport Wellington website (http://www.sportwellington.org.nz/performance-hub/)

ENDS

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