What a year it has been! With the new strategic plan in place for 12 months, we are proud to share the significant strides we’ve made in delivering on our strategic objectives. The best way to share is to show you the key initiatives we committed to delivering in 2024, and how we are tracking.

Growth in Participation

• Reviewed and refreshed Kiwi Gym Fun; the new programme “Springboard” will launch next year.
• Completed and promoted the GfA apparatus program ‘opens division’ (level 7).
• Worked with Manawatu Gymsports to deliver another great NZ GymClub Challenge.
• Undertook an internal review of our membership model, ready for community review and consultation in 2025.

Thriving Club Community

• Coach development opportunities included two Coach Connect and a Youth Coach Connect conference, and nine workshops.
• Launched and started to implement the coach development framework with our club network.
• Innovated in coach development, investigating new models for supporting clubs to engage with coach education.
• Increased the number of facilitators for coach courses.
• Promoted regional coach development opportunities.
• Updated education software with more online courses.

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Effective Performance Pathways

• Developed a pathway strategy for all codes with HPSNZ.
• Established a new head of gymnastics role.
• Delivered nationals and endorsed events in line with pathways.
• Supported Olympic selections and campaigns (more below).
• Undertook a full process review of international tours and added more resources to support this area.

Foundations for a Safe and Positive Culture

• Supported the rollout of a new complaints policy, leading to a reduction in the length of the process.
• Ensured all clubs meet minimum safeguarding requirements.
• Rolled out Voice of Participant results to the community.
• Launched the whānau (parents) newsletter and competitive parents forum at nationals.
• Established an athletes’ council.
• Focus on athlete wellbeing through the development of the training guidelines and competition attire regulations.
• Initiated a disability inclusion project with club connections.
• Introduced Te Reo at Gymnastics NZ events and engaged with iwi.

Olympic Success

Congratulations to our Olympic trampolinists Maddie Davidson and Dylan Schmidt, who represented Aotearoa with pride at the Paris Olympic Games 2024. Maddie placed an incredible seventh overall, improving from her 10th place finish at the Tokyo Olympics. Dylan, despite a fall in the final, showcased his world-class talent by ranking 4th in the qualification round. Both athletes (supported by coaches Alex and Angie) demonstrated excellence and sportsmanship on the global stage.

We also celebrate Georgia-Rose Brown’s remarkable performance in the women’s artistic qualification competition at the Paris 2024 Olympics. Her 4th reserve finish in the all-around competition is the best all-around Olympic result from a New Zealand athlete to date. Congratulations to Georgia and her coach, Rian.

International Update

2024 saw the departure of Dr. Denis Mowbray as NZ’s representative on the Oceania Gymnastics Union (OGU) Board, replaced by Quinton Hall. The new independent Chair of the OGU is ex-MAG athlete Russell D’Costa. We have been hard at work with Gymnastics Australia and the OGU to establish great pathways to qualifications for our athletes in all codes, finding strategic solutions to the challenges of geography and financial limitations.

In October, Gymnastics NZ Chair Quinton Hall and CEO Andrea Nelson traveled to attend the FIG (International Gymnastics Federation) Congress. FIG President Mori Watanabe was appointed for another term. In an exciting development, Congress voted to adopt ParaGymnastics as a new code, with the aim of competing at the Brisbane Games in 2032.

2024 Intercontinental Oceania Artistic Championships

In May we delivered our first international competition for many years. Held at Bruce Pulman Park and supported by Counties Manukau Gymnastics our top New Zealand athletes battled it out with Australia in pursuit of winning the Oceania titles. It was fantastic seeing our top MAG and WAG athletes, coaches, and judges performing on home soil in front of a sold-out crowd. It was such an inspiration for our up-and-coming athletes.

Dealing with Concerns and Complaints

After a detailed review of processes, we launched a new complaints policy in early 2024, replacing a number of policies. The policy was launched along with a safe sport page on our website and a new back-end system to track concerns and ensure transparent communication to all parties involved.

Since launching the new complaints policy, Gymnastics NZ has received 35 concerns and complaints. Of these, the majority have been resolved through working with the complainant and the club, with two resulting in sanctions.

The recent Sport NZ Voice of the Participant survey showed that 80% of respondents reported high levels of trust in handling of integrity issues (an increase of 5% from 2023), and the number of respondents witnessing inappropriate behaviour ‘at least occasionally’ dropped 6% to 10%.

However, there is still work to do, particularly in raising awareness of how to raise a concern or complaint with only 65% of respondents in the VOP survey indicating that they knew how to do this. We will continue to prioritise this important work and support clubs to do so in 2025.

2024 has been a year of remarkable achievements for our gymnastics community. We have not only met but exceeded many of our targets, thanks to the dedication and hard work of our community. As we look forward to 2025, we remain committed to fostering growth, innovation, and a positive culture within gymnastics in New Zealand.

We thank everyone for the efforts you have contributed to our clubs, our members, and our sport this year, and wish you all an enjoyable and restful festive break.

Head office will close on Friday 20 December and re-open on Monday 6 January.