1. Ko is back….and back to her best. Now ranked third on the LPGA Tour, Lydia Ko’s highlights in 2021 were winning the LOTTE championship and a bronze medal at the Olympics. What struck me most watching her play-off for a medal in Tokyo, was Ko acknowledging a good shot from her opponent and all with a beaming smile across her face.
2. Time on task matters. After a two-year hiatus from international rugby, the Black Ferns played their end-of-year tour in the Northern Hemisphere, and the gap really showed in their defeats to England and France. You simply can’t beat international competition and the standard we’ve come to expect from our world champion Black Ferns just wasn’t there.
Super Rugby Aupiki will start in March 2022, contested by four sides. The competition will be a huge step forward for the women’s game leading into next year’s Rugby World Cup in Aotearoa – but it comes with an increased player responsibility. Noticeably missing from the announcement were female head coaches at any franchise.
3. Lisa Carrington. Greatest ever. That is all.
4. Our female Paralympians in Tokyo were outstanding. Starting with the beautifully shocked Tupou Neiufi winning the 100m backstroke in the pool. Our track and field stars Lisa Adams (shot put), Anna Grimaldi (long jump), Holly Robinson (javelin) and Danielle Aitchison (100m and 200m) performed exceptionally well in the Olympic stadium. And our Paralympic queen, Sophie Pascoe, came home with yet another medal haul – cementing her legacy in the pool and New Zealand sport.
5. Signing off from her debut role in journalism, Ashley Stanley will forever be a LockerRoom legend. Ash describes her two years as a fulltime writer for us as life-changing in many ways, but in a major part due to the mentoring she received from our extraordinary editor Suzanne McFadden.
And now the Sky Sport scholarship has brought Merryn Anderson to LockerRoom – a young woman with a real passion for sport and storytelling. Credit to Ashley for all her brilliant mahi in her time, and credit to those wonderful people who help bring other women up, empower them and set them free to continue to flourish in sports journalism.
6. Let’s learn from our young sportswomen – rangatahi and tamariki are our future, so invest in and listen to them. Three messages stand out for me in 2021:
Asha Jenkins (aged four): “Mum, are girls not allowed to do the America’s Cup?”
Erica Fairweather (17): “It wasn’t my best performance but I won’t let it define my Games experience,” following her eighth place in the final of the 400m freestyle at the Tokyo Olympics.
Arizona Leger (25): “Our acts today will determine what kind of ancestor you will be tomorrow,” as keynote speaker at the Women + Girls Summit.
7. Commercial relationships are critical to the success of our sportswomen and sports teams. With the Big Four – three World Cups and the IWG World Conference on Women & Sport – coming to our shores in the next two years, savvy partnerships need to be created to maximise this incredible commercial opportunity.
The Ford naming rights sponsorship of the Football Ferns signals the commercial intent and opportunity leading into the 2023 FIFA World Cup. While global sport sponsorship is reportedly down 30 percent through the pandemic, here’s hoping not all of that money has been taken from women’s programmes.
8. After a decade at the helm of the New Zealand Olympic Committee, Kereyn Smith leaves a huge legacy. During her tenure as CEO and Secretary General, Smith has undoubtedly raised the profile and strengthened the mana of both the NZ Team and the NZOC.
She has now passed the mantle on to Nicki Nicol, who has extensive commercial acumen and leadership gleaned from her time at NZ Rugby.
9. Rest in peace Olivia Podmore. A hugely talented young cyclist, with a smile that lit up a room, she battled not just the administration in her sport but her own personal demons. She deserved better. We await the findings of the Heron Report 2.0, but her death cannot be in vain – having called out both Cycling NZ and High Performance Sport NZ in her final Instagram post. The recent mass exodus of staff from Cycling NZ staff may finally be a turning point for the sport.
10. The Wellington Phoenix finally rose to the challenge entering a female team in the A-League. Bravo to the club for appointing two female coaches in Gemma Lewis and Natalie Lawrence. We wish them good luck in their maiden season, with the added challenge of being based across the ditch.
11. Athletes have powerful platforms and are increasingly using them to speak up. Global superstars such as Simone Biles and Naomi Osaka used their global influence to have a conversation about mental health. The disappearance of Chinese tennis superstar Peng Shuai prompted a social media hunt for her.
Closer to home, via Instagram, we saw Silver Fern Maia Wilson speak up about body image and expectations, and in recent weeks Te Kura Ngata-Aerengamate called out the Black Ferns coaching staff after she suffered a mental breakdown on their latest tour. Athletes are not afraid to voice their opinions through social media and the ripple effect is huge.
12. Kiwi trail running queen Ruth Croft continues to complete mind-blowing challenges in the middle of nowhere and in 2021 she pushed herself to greater heights. Overall winner of the 102km Tarawera Ultramarathon – men and women – and in a women’s course record time, Croft then completed her first 100-mile race at the prestigious Western States race in California finishing second. It’s inspiring (and slightly crazy) to be able to ‘race’ over that distance, and keep your feet moving with your mind intact for 160km.
13. Emma Twigg did not get fourth at her fourth Olympics. Instead, she smashed the field in an Olympic record time on Sea Forrest Waterway and in doing so, she will be the Kiwi epitome of resilience for decades to come.
In what was a glorious Olympics for the NZ rowing team, our women on the water dominated – with gold to the women’s pair (Kerri Gowler and Grace Prendergast), silver for the double (Brooke Donoghue and Hannah Osbourne) and silver to the women’s eight.
14. Despite giving us all a heart attack in the semifinal against Fiji at the Tokyo Olympics, the Black Ferns Sevens Sisters lived up to their mission, to leave mana in their wake and collect the gold medal.
The team have faced some hard challenges since the Rio Olympics five years ago, but they haven’t shied away from doing the dirty work to get through those hard times. They were led by inspirational captain Sarah Hirini, who was later deservedly crowned NZ rugby player of the year. As a nation, we are immensely proud of their individual brilliance, but as a team they are outstanding.
15. By the end of 2021, all New Zealand sports organisations must have a minimum of 40 percent women on all their boards – national, regional and local. Several NSOs look like they won’t achieve this target, therefore won’t be able to secure full investment from Sport NZ.
Diversity brings better decisions. While this quota is about gender, we need to continue to push for other groups to be represented when making decisions. Let’s consider the impact for the LGTBQI+ community, ethnic groups and our disabled community.
16. Well done Netball NZ and Dame Noeline Taurua on creating a philosophy encouraging more Silver Ferns mums, so players like Ameliaranne Ekenasio, Katrina Rore, Sulu Fitzpatrick, Kayla Johnson and Phoenix Karaka and can continue their sporting careers, knowing their employers will support the demands of motherhood and sport.
And continuing to lead the way for mums in sport is Dame Valerie Adams. There wasn’t a dry eye in the nation when she said her bronze medal in Tokyo meant more than her two golds, because she’d won it as a mother of two children. Mālie.
17. A successful career in world motorsport for Kiwi women seems entirely possible with the likes of Courtney Duncan and Emma Gilmour paving the way internationally. Duncan won her third successive motocross world championship in Italy in October, while rally driver Gilmour has secured a spot with the prestigious Formula 1 Team, McLaren, driving a fully electric off-road car in the 2022 Extreme E Series.
18. Momentum is building for our Big Four – three World Cups (cricket, rugby and football) and the IWG Women & Sport conference. The significance of hosting these major international events should not be lost on New Zealanders. It all kicks off in March with the ICC Cricket World Cup – and the tickets are very affordable. I’ve brought a family pass to the White Ferns vs India and I’m pumped to bring my son and daughter to the game.
Having Porse childcare free at every game during the CWC22 is such a brilliant move by the tournament organisers. With innovative ideas to break down the barriers to fans, and a sharing of ideas between the Big Four, a huge spotlight will shine on women and girls in sport in New Zealand and globally.
19. Two alpine rock stars Alice Robinson and Zoi Sadowski-Synnott, will spearhead our winter sport wāhine at the Beijing 2022 Olympics in February.
Both young women made their mark on the snowsport world in 2021, and have ended the year with career-highlight performances (although Robinson is now in quarantine with Covid), putting their rivals on notice that they intend to bring home gold from Beijing.
20. Wellbeing in sport should not be exclusive to athletes. Absolutely, athletes are the heart of our sports, but to get the heart to pump you need all systems firing. We must acknowledge the stress on coaches, support staff and administrators and be better at being human-first sporting organisations.
21. Sport has the opportunity to bring people together. More than ever, we are hungry to be together, to do the things we love with the people we love. Let’s find ways to continue this – safely – so we can all benefit from the richness of sport in New Zealand.
It’s been a year like no other (particularly for our loyal Auckland readers) so give yourself a break over the holiday season. Sport and recreation can do wonders for the soul and are pillars of public health.
From all of us at LockerRoom, thank you for reading our words through 2021. Let’s keep shining light on our incredible women and girls in sport.
Ia Manuia.
