As we reach the end of 2025, we want to take a moment to reflect on a year shaped by progress, partnership, and community leadership. Across Aotearoa, clubs, coaches, judges, athletes, volunteers, and working groups have all played a vital role in strengthening our sports, developing pathways and programmes to shaping culture, events, safeguarding, and performance.

This wrap-up brings together the key updates, achievements, and mahi from across the gymnastics community in 2025. We hope it offers a clear picture of the work being done, the impact being made, and the shared direction we’re building toward.

Thank you for everything you do for our sports. We look forward to continuing this journey with you in 2026.

• Springboard launched nationwide, starting with a term two pilot of 10 clubs and opening to the full community in term three. We now have 43 clubs delivering or trialling the programme ahead of 2026.
• A full suite of resources, including a user guide and template lesson plans, have been shared to support clubs.
• Gymnastics for All (GfA) forum was attended by 43 clubs, focusing on attracting and retaining recreation members. Clubs showcased what’s working well, including effective social media use, storytelling, and how they are integrating Springboard.
• The GNZ Guide to Growing Membership and Participation was created to support clubs with growth initiatives.
• Working groups were established to develop new social competitive and participation pathway event programmes.
• A parkour working group was formed to create a competitive parkour pathway from GfA through to international FIG events.

• The coach development framework was rolled out, supported by a full calendar of learning opportunities alongside technical qualifications, including sessions on athlete nutrition, addressing peer-to-peer bullying, and finding balance for athletes.
• There were 998 attendees across 56 coaching courses held.
• We switched to a regional model for coach development opportunities so that we could tailor to suit local needs – 20 coach development opportunities were held with 460 attendees.
• Judge revalidation in line with codes of points updates was completed, with 649 attendees across 50 courses.
• Continued cultural change work, including club support to adopt training hours guidelines for artistic and rhythmic and draft guidelines were developed for aerobics and trampoline.
• The draft judging framework has been completed and ready for community consultation early 2026.
• Support has been provided to clubs to complete incorporated societies re-registration, ahead of the 5 April 2026 deadline.
• 22 national and regional club huis were held, offering a range of topics for clubs to connect, share, and learn from each other.

• Performance competition data was collected throughout 2025, with analysis underway for the Olympic codes to inform the updated picture of performance.
• Terms of reference have been developed for both the selection criteria review and the athlete funding review.
• New performance squad opportunities were delivered across artistic and trampoline.
• Selection camps were introduced for women’s artistic.
• 2026 performance and aspiring squads have been aligned with tour opportunity categories, delivering on the recommendation to use national squads as the initial stage of selection.
• Selection process review actions have been implemented.
  • Enhanced communication and athlete support for the 2026 Commonwealth Games selection process, including workshops and resources (developed with input from the GNZ Athletes’ Council), increased email updates, and mid-cycle visibility of athlete ranking levels for coaches.
  • The new GNZ selection committee has been appointed, featuring an updated structure with the addition of a legal expert and code-specific technical experts.
  • We advocated (unsuccessfully) for a review of the NZ Olympic Committee’s top-16 selection criteria.
• The events review advisory group was established, with three meetings held to date.
• A gap analysis of event opportunities across all pathways has been completed.
• Event structure and pathway recommendations, including minimum age considerations for Nationals, are now in draft form.

• An extensive efffort was made to secure grants in the current challenging environment.
• Xtreme Productivity has committed to three years as naming sponsor of the XP Gymnastics Nationals.

Shaping the Future of Gymnastics Update
This year, we continued strengthening the culture and safety of our sport through several key initiatives.

• Continued promotion of competition attire rules that put athlete comfort first.
• Support for clubs to follow best-practice training hours guidelines for artistic and rhythmic, with new guidance developed for aerobics and trampoline.
• A full review and update of the complaints policy, alongside continued improvements to the safe sport reporting process.
• Ongoing safeguarding work, including maintaining strong compliance standards for clubs and providing additional training for safeguarding leads.
• New development opportunities informed by community feedback were created, including a coach workshop on managing peer-to-peer bullying and gymnastics-specific scenario training for safeguarding leads.

Complaints This Year
Providing clear pathways for raising concerns and complaints is an important part of GNZ’s integrity work, and this year we continued to use our online notification system to support that process. In 2025, we received 18 concerns and two formal complaints. Most were resolved through the complaints policy framework, with those outside its scope addressed through the appropriate channels.

It has also been encouraging to see a reduction in serious issues, with the majority now resolved positively through early, proactive engagement with clubs and those involved — a reflection of the culture change taking place across our community.

We remain incredibly appreciative of the importance clubs place on this work and grateful for the ongoing mahi that helps make gymnastics a safe, positive, and enjoyable sport for everyone.

Collective Leadership Makes a Big Impact
At Gymnastics NZ, our value of rangatiratanga (action, leadership) isn’t about hierarchy. It’s about our community stepping forward together. This year, so much of our progress has been shaped by the many people who have contributed their time, expertise, and lived experience across working groups and advisory panels. We’re deeply grateful for the mahi you’ve all shared.

The Membership Model Working Group helped identify ways to reduce pressure on clubs, contributing to new billing timings and the rollout of multiline billing in term 2, 2026. They also highlighted the need to review how coach and judge education is delivered and funded, which is a key focus for 2026.

Our Events Advisory Group, formed as part of the events review, has examined the structure, delivery, and challenges of events across all pathways. They are now consolidating recommendations for wider consultation.

In Gymnastics for All, working groups have begun refreshing both social competitive and participation pathway programmes to support long-term growth and retention, with development continuing into 2026.

The Parkour Working Group has advanced work on a full competitive pathway aligned with FIG priorities, including a skills matrix and pathway framework. An overview of this work was shared at the Gym Club Challenge.

Our Athletes’ Council completed its first full year, contributing to Commonwealth Games resources, athlete leadership tools, and feedback opportunities at Nationals.

Finally, our technical committees and GfA sport development committee remain essential to competitive and recreational pathway development. This year, a new technical appointments panel helped appoint chairs, performance advisors, and judging advisors, supporting community members stepping into leadership roles.

Together, this collective leadership is shaping a stronger, more connected future for gymnastics in Aotearoa.

Success on the World Stage
In 2025, we delivered 27 international tours across five gymnastics codes, giving 194 athletes and 87 officials the chance to compete, grow, and gain invaluable experience on the world stage. Standout performance results included:

Trampoline

• Maddie Davidson
  • 2nd France World Cup
  • 7th World Championships individual
  • 7th World Championships mixed synchro
• Dylan Schmidt – 3rd France World Cup
  • 7th World Championships individual
  • 7th World Championships mixed synchro
  • 12th World Championships men’s synchro
• Bronwynn Dibb
  • 7th DMT World Championships
  • 7th World Championships women’s synchro
• Rachel Schmidt – 7th World Championships women’s synchro
• Flynn Gunther – 12th World Championships men’s synchro

Artistic

• Alisa Wada – 6th University Games beam final
• Madeleine Marshall – 7th Doha World Cup vault final
• Jun McDonald – 7th Doha World Cup bars final
• Misha Koudinov – 21st World Championships high bar
• William Fu Allen – 24th World Championships floor

Rhythmic

• Havana Hopman
  • 4th French Grand Prix
  • 2nd Oceania Championships

Thank You to Our Funders and Sponsors
We would like to acknowledge and thank the following trusts and foundations for their generous funding throughout the 2024 year. This funding has allowed us to carry out projects on behalf of our affiliated clubs and the wider community.

• Xtreme Productivity – naming sponsor for the XP Gymnastics Nationals
• GymStuff Limited – official equipment partner
• Sport NZ – partnership investment
• NZCT – relationship manager salaries and vehicle leases
• Foundation North – vehicle leases and IT support
• Grassroots Trust – Auckland head office lease and education manager salary
• Olympic Solidarity – coach development opportunities and performance training clinics
• Aotearoa Gaming Trust – audio visual for the XP Gymnastics Nationals
• The Bobby Foundation – first aid contractor for the XP Gymnastics Nationals
• Four Winds – IT project
• Manukau Counties Community Facilities Charitable Trust – Auckland venue hire for coach education
• Blue Sky Community Trust – Auckland storage unit costs
• Akarana Community Trust – Auckland storage unit costs
• Kiwi Gaming Foundation – Wellington office lease
• Otago Community Trust – regional coach and judge education
• Community Trust of Southland – coach and judge education for the Southland region
• Sport Bay of Plenty Coach Force – regional coach education

We look forward to doing a lot more with you all next year.