High Performance team confirmed at Rowing New Zealand

Former international coxswain and coach Alan Cotter has been announced as Rowing New Zealand’s new High Performance Manager.

Cotter will be joined in a new look High Performance team by Judith Hamilton – who will become High Performance Support Services Manager.

The pair will work with Chief Coach Dick Tonks and a team that includes experienced nutritionalists, biomechanics, physiotherapists and other support professionals, as well as Rowing New Zealand’s experienced international coaching team.

Cotter (52) will focus on the immediate management and development of the international teams at Elite, Under-23 and Junior level whilst Hamilton (41) will oversee the support programme for the national squad, and the development of the Regional Performance Centre programme – regarded as one of the key building blocks for the future of the sport.

Cotter has been High Performance Commissioner on the Board of Rowing New Zealand for the past four years dovetailing a volunteer role in rowing with a highly successful 28 year career with NZ Safety. He was eager to take a more hands on role in the High Performance programme when the job became available following Andrew Matheson’s departure to Rowing Australia.

“There is a challenging role ahead, as there always is at the start of an Olympic cycle,” he explained.

“Like any sport serious about winning, we will be working to retain our key athletes and coaches up to 2012 and beyond, as well as looking to 2016 and identifying and nurturing our athletes and coaches through our Regional Performance Centres.

“There’s a strong team at Rowing New Zealand and it is extremely focussed on doing the best for the sport and its athletes, and that means putting in place the right people and structures that will allow our rowers to excel on the international scene for years to come. It’s what we are good at, and as High Performance Manager I fully intend to maintain and build on that reputation.”

Alan has exceptional knowledge of the sport, of international rowing and of the High Performance programme, alongside a plethora of commercial and management skills honed in his professional career.

A former New Zealand Coach of the Year (1988), he was a successful cox throughout the 1970s and 1980s, winning numerous national titles before joining the national squad. He undertook some high profile coaching roles within rowing, including Hamilton Boys High School and Waikato Rowing Club and was also coach of the 1988 Seoul Coxed Four that won an Olympic bronze medal. Alan has also managed several New Zealand rowing teams – including the 2005 Elite team tour of Europe. Both Cotter and Hamilton will be based at the new High Performance Centre at Lake Karapiro.