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Home News New Executive Director for the University and Tertiary Sport New Zealand (UTSNZ).

New Executive Director for the University and Tertiary Sport New Zealand (UTSNZ).

FISU 31 March 2016

Sarah Anderson, Executive Director of UTSNZNEW ZEALAND – Sarah Anderson has been appointed as the Executive Director of University and Tertiary Sport New Zealand (UTSNZ).

 

 Having spent over 10 years with Sport NZ and in various roles including across Coaching, Relationship Management and the Youth teams, Anderson is looking forward to the challenge of her new role and further exploring/developing the place of university and tertiary institutions within sporting pathways and frameworks. 

 

 “In establishing UTSNZ, it will be important to implement a strategy which is realistic, builds trust and delivers high quality events and services.

 

 In the initial stages, the core objective of UTSNZ will be around reviving competitive inter tertiary sporting competitions, lifting the standard of these competitions and developing pathways for students to international opportunities. The competition level, while different from sport to sport, will be competitive and performance-based rather than the social events of more recent times.

 

 This will be achieved by working with capable National Sporting Organisations (NSOs) with an active interest in developing competitive tertiary sporting pathways within their whole of sport plans. With the appropriate planning and support the goal is that these national tertiary events become embedded annually and are supported through student participation at the regional, local university and tertiary institution level” said Anderson.

 

 UTSNZ is brand new, established by the universities in late 2015. It will be running a series of inter-institutional sports events in 2016, starting with 3×3 basketball on March 18 and having events for 7s rugby, futsal, badminton/table tennis, hockey, volleyball/basketball before finishing with netball in September. Three of the sports have identified international pathways for teams selected out of the event, and most will have intra-institutional competitions to enable the institutions to select their best-available team.

 

 UTSNZ is also responsible for facilitating New Zealand students competing in international competitions, both the single-sport World University Championships and the multi-sport World University Games that for many sports are rated higher than the Commonwealth Games in terms of participants and quality.

 

(Source : FISU Oceania)