Sparc boss: It's all about the people

The figures are hard to dispute.

Since Nick Hill took the reins in 2002 of the newly created sports funding body Sparc, the cash has rolled through the door.

Government funding of sport and recreation has more than doubled from $45 million a year in 2003 to $115 million in 2007.

And the amount aimed at elite sport has leapt from $11 million to $35 million during Hill's five-plus years in charge.

But as he stepped down as chief executive last week you can be sure there were still the usual grumbles about New Zealand's lack of success at the Olympic and Commonwealth Games.

Some sports will moan that the money has not come their way and punters will ask what have we got for all that money?

After five years Hill has learned to accept Sparc will never be popular with everyone, but hopes his legacy will not be weighed solely in gold, silver or bronze.

"I will throw it back a bit at you guys because if you look where the media focuses it's always around elite sport," he said this week as he prepared to vacate what many will argue is the most powerful post in New Zealand sport.

"When you open the newspaper most of it is about Daniel Vettori and Robbie Deans. That commercial and profile side drives our media so much that sport is viewed in those terms."

In other words, the $80 million increase in funding outside the elite level of sport often goes unnoticed.

"To me our business is like a third, a third, a third. There is the elite, growing participation and developing the capabilities of people involved in sport.

"In each of those areas there's significantly more money going in," Hill said noting that rowing's annual funding has gone from $500,000 to $3 million, while coaching in general gets $4 million.

Hill shares New Zealand's disappointment at the lack of medals at last year's Commonwealth Games in Melbourne, but believes value for money should be measured on a wider scale.

"We know that in 2002 we had seven athletes or teams in the top eight in the world and now there are 27.

"Our depth is greater and our diversity of performance is greater too.

"For me, while there is a lot that goes into that, not least the athletes themselves, it does suggest things are a lot better across the board than they were."

He believed talented athletes had a better chance of reaching the top of their sport than they did five years ago through a more streamlined New Zealand Academy of Sport.

"I don't claim credit for the advanced thinking or initiatives, but you can actually see it in grants for athletes who train fulltime in the things we developed.

"Things like sports science and sports medicine through the academy system and the amount of money going into helping athletes travel at the very elite end."

Hill said perhaps the biggest change had been the active role Government was now taking in funding sport and recreation.

"It goes back to the Graham Report, which said sport was fragmented in sport and recreation and that the government did not provide leadership.

"The Government contribution then was not significant. It was all from the lottery commission and it was basically all from Lotto.

"Lotto's contribution has remained about the same, but Government has started to fund it."

Trevor Mallard had been an "effective" and "passionate" minister of sport who had played a big role in changing attitudes to investment.

"You can see with the Rugby World Cup, the Rowing World Cup and the Bowls World Championships being hosted in New Zealand.

"Those are signs of where we have advanced. The Government was not involved in events before. In the past events were seen as something for the private sector or the community."

Hill said he had learned there were no quick fixes in sport and recreation.

"The main point I would make is that a lot of the issues are deeply intractable. They are real social and economic things so how we address them is not going to be things where suddenly in five years they are fixed. That will seldom be the case.

"It will be, have we put in place the kind of policies that will make a difference over time and can continue to be built on. That will be for me what the main judgment will be."

Though debate would no doubt rage on, he was convinced that splitting the elite and recreational sides of the sector and returning to the days of the Hillary Commission and the Sports Commission was not the way forward.

"At the heart of what I think Sparc is about is the notion of a pathway for all New Zealanders that allows them to develop their potential.

"It starts with pre-school and takes people through to the podium or just into being good participants or volunteers themselves.

"All the things we do at Sparc from supporting development of fundamental movement skills to coaching to elite programmes fit within this pathway."

Hill is unsure what the future holds as he ponders a season at first five-eighth for The Pies, Poneke's golden oldies rugby team then a return to the commercial sector, but he has this piece of advice for his successor, whomever they may be.

"It's about the people. Sport is so much about people and passion and how do you harness that?"

- © Fairfax NZ News