Triathlon New Zealand completes coaching appointments

Triathlon New Zealand has appointed highly respected international coach Jon Brown to the role of High Performance Coach within the Tri NZ HP Programme.

In addition to Brown, Tri NZ High Performance Director Graeme Maw has also confirmed the appointment of Christchurch’s Tim Brazier as Talent Development Coach and that Rob Creasy will continue to be associated with Tri NZ but as a Performance Scientist for High Performance Sport New Zealand (HPSNZ).

Maw is delighted at the appointments of three highly respected experts, with the addition of Brown a coup for the sport in a highly competitive market place.

“I am thrilled with the appointments of Jon and Tim to complete our High Performance coaching team alongside Head Coach Greg Fraine. We have worked through a painstaking process to recruit the very best expertise, and have been able to assemble a coaching team for our athletes that is genuinely world-leading. The blend of expertise is outstanding – on the obvious level covering swim, bike and run, but equally significantly with the mix of approach, freshness and experience.

“This is echoed by the appointment of Rob Creasy as Performance Scientist with HPSNZ who we must thank for their unflinching support. The common thread among the whole team is an unambiguous focus on performance, and we look forward to helping our athletes reach the very top,” said Maw.

Jon Brown was twice 4th in the Olympic Marathon running for Great Britain (2000 and 2004), succeeding in a hugely demanding event. Brown has more recently been working with Canada Tri, first as running consultant, working very closely with two time Olympic medallist Simon Whitfield, before stepping up to lead the Canadian team through to London 2012.

Brown is delighted to have secured the role and can’t wait to begin his work.

“Last year I spent time training in Wanaka and was very impressed with what I saw of the New Zealand programme,” said Brown from Victoria, Canada.

“I was really impressed by the attitude of the athletes, the coaches and the people involved. What I'm looking forward to most is establishing a high quality training environment in Cambridge and working together with established New Zealand coaches and athletes.”

Brown is familiar with the environment he is coming into and the green field opportunity at the new National High Performance Centre (NHPC) in Cambridge.

“Clearly the key objective is to build a sustainable production line of podium potential athletes for future Olympic Games. Essential to that is establishing a High Performance triathlon culture in Cambridge. New Zealand already has great triathletes and the new NHPC in Cambridge can only enhance that further and hopefully inspire the next generation of kiwi triathletes to Olympic success.”

Tri NZ National Head Coach Greg Fraine is thrilled at the team that has now come together, a team that can get to work on the HP Strategy set to deliver success to the sport over the next 8 years.

“I am genuinely excited about the appointments of Tim and Jon to the Tri NZ coaching team and the continued world class work that Rob will contribute. The combined experience of this group complements the needs of the Tri NZ HP Programme very well. The combination of the personalities involved will provide a collaborative yet challenging environment that will provide the best possible platform for our athletes to succeed.”

Brazier is delighted at his appointment but more so at the decision to focus the HP Strategy so strongly towards the development of athletes.

“I am especially thrilled that Tri NZ HP has created an opportunity for a focused talent development role. The new structure and environment will enable us to effectively lead and assist the vast amount of talented triathletes in New Zealand to Olympic and World Championship podiums.

“I will probably bring the teams average age down by about 10 years! But in all seriousness, I think that it will provide a good balance to the team. Outside of applying my physiological background across the three disciplines, I think one of the biggest strengths that I contribute to the team will be my ability to seek and quickly apply new knowledge through creating an adaptable, performance focused, and learning environment for athletes and coaches.

“Lastly I would like to thank the Coach Accelerate programme members and leaders for developing my skills which have significantly contributed to me being where I am now.”

Tri NZ President Garry Boon is delighted that yet another bold step has been taken in response to the 2011 independent review into the High Performance Programme.

“The HP review was the foundation for the development of the Tri NZ 2020 High Performance Strategy, which will guide our HP Programme to the 2016 Rio Olympics and on to 2020. It’s now almost 12 months since that review was completed and the TriNZ Board is extremely excited to see the new programme really starting to take shape. Today’s announcement is a massive step forward in our commitment to establishing a truly world leading High Performance Programme.”

Brown will commence his new role immediately from Canada but in practical terms will begin work in May with Brazier at a youth development familiarisation camp in Cambridge while Brazier is already hard at work alongside Greg Fraine in working with the Tri NZ HP Squads as they train, prepare and race at events around the world. Brown will relocate fulltime to New Zealand in October, following the European season, with the Avantidrome complex on target for a December 2013 or January 2014 opening.

PROFILES:

Jonathan (Jon) Brown

Born and raised in U.K. before moving to Canada in 1996 (citizenship in 2005). Professional track and field athlete between 1992-2009, competing throughout the world at highest international level, including 3 Olympic Games. Started runbycommonsense coaching business in 2008 prior to being Canadian men’s lead triathlon coach between 2010-2012.

Experience

20 years experience of endurance training planning and methods; especially experienced with altitude training and heat race preparation. Special interest in sports injury management. Well connected with sports professionals internationally especially in sports medicine, science and running/ triathlon circles. Interest in HRV monitoring as well as effective use of HR and power training data file analysis.
Experienced at planning and leading training camps worldwide, including New Zealand.
Experienced coach of runners from junior to senior international level, both male and female at distances from 3km to ultra-distance events. 2012 Canada national Team leader and lead coach at Chiba ekiden relay in Japan.
Summer 2010 – Lead coach to U23 woman athlete Kirsten Sweetland (2nd 2010 World U23) and as run specific coach to elite/U23 men training group based at Triathlon Canada National Training Centre in Victoria, British Columbia.
October 2010 to September 2012 – Lead coach for elite men/ U23 men program based at Triathlon Canada National Training Centre in partnership with Canadian Sports Centre’s Pacific and Calgary. Lead coach at ITU events for Canadian men’s team including 2011 World Championships.
Lead coach (men & women) of 2012 Canadian Olympic team in London. Organized and managed pre-Olympic staging camp located in Surrey, UK.
Role with Triathlon Canada involved working with funding partners and service providers to form effective and functional partnerships. Collaboration with Canadian Sports Centers on special sports science projects and National Sports Institutes for athlete services. Demonstrated leadership and management of effective multi disciple coaching and IST team both at home and on road.
Experience at preparing detailed yearly performance plan and budget proposal for funding partners.
Experienced at performance evaluation and delivering detailed plans with costing estimates. Use of measurable data to formulate performance targets and assessments.
Skilled at managing projects in a fluid state of progress where good intuition and leadership qualities are required
Proficient at MS Word, Excel as well as OSX
Proven ability at strategic planning and prepare detailed goal orientated plans
Proven ability as an athlete and in coach/management at working in extreme pressure environment. Ability to prioritize tasks and organize progression of work.
20 years collaborating with major sports brands as part of marketing campaigns. Also experienced with use of social and print media for purposes of marketing and promotion.
Experienced with all forms of media - written articles for print media and experience with in television broadcasting.
2008 -2011 Royal Victoria Marathon executive board member.

Education

Iowa State University 1989-1992 unfinished BA in political science.
Athletics Canada Competition Development Coaching Level – currently in progress

Professional Memberships

Coaches of Canada

Tim Brazier

Born and raised in Auckland, Tim moved to Dunedin in 2002 to complete his Bachelor and Masters in Physical Education before moving into lecturing at Otago Polytechnic. Tim has coached swimming since he was 16, moving into Triathlon coaching at age 22 under the tutelage of John Hellemens. In 2010 Tim was accepted onto the Coach Accelerate programme and was an assistant coach at the 2012 Olympic Games.

Experience

New Zealand Assistant Olympic Coach London 2012
Accelerate Coach programme member (http://www.hpsnz.org.nz/coaches/coach-accelerator-programme)

Head coach of National and Oceania champions, Continental Cup winners, World Cup and World Championship series top 10 finishes, multiple national series medallists, Ironman Champion and Xterra representatives.
A background in tertiary level lecturing in sports degrees.
Swim coaching background; Waves assistant coach and lead strength and conditioner, creating 87 Regional records, 6 National age group records and 3 NZL representatives within 30months of the club inception.
Adept at researching, analysing performance and deciding path of greatest gain.
Proven ability to strategically plan and work in extreme pressure environments.
Ensure an athlete-centred, coach-lead approach to developing performance, with a forward thinking approach.
Experienced at planning and leading training camps worldwide.
Expertise in working with sports science and medical professionals in developing a support structure for individualised athlete plans.

Qualifications

Masters of Physical Education - University of Otago, Dunedin (2007)
Bachelor of Physical Education (Majors in Sport and Leisure Studies and Exercise Prescription) - University of Otago, Dunedin (2005)
Triathlon NZL: Level 1 & 2 Coach Certificates
Swimming NZL: Swimsafe, Swimtastic, Skills Coach Certificates