Swimming New Zealand has seen its share of change over the course of 2016 thus far, as CEO Christian Renford stepped down earlier this year, followed by veteran coach Noel Hardgrave-Booth announcing his retirement. In comparison, relatively smaller changes are in store on a meet organization level for 2017.
After the dust has settled from the Rio Olympic Games and the remainder of the 2016 swimming season, Swimming New Zealand may move forward with implementing proposed changes to key national meets.
Among those being considered is the proposal that the National Junior Championships and New Zealand Division II Championships be split into zones with each having its own separate meet. This process falls inline with how the meets were held in the past, whereby 3 different venues’ results were compared to ultimately obtain the national champion in each event.
An additional change proposed is the elimination of a National Championships for 12 and under age groups. Reasoning behind this proposal is that ‘most often winning at this level is more about being physically developed than others, rather being a better technical swimmer.’ (Stuff.NZ). Additionally, although the change would take away a National-level meet experience, the idea is that a broader base overall for the sport would instead be developed.
Age brackets for the New Zealand Age Group Championships and New Zealand Short Course Championships are also being proposed.