NZHQ Schools Programme Inspiring Future Olympians

It has been a busy morning at the NZHQ fanzone in Wānaka as we welcomed the first school group as part of our schools programme supported by The Warehouse Group, Sir Owen Glenn Olympic Legacy, Sport NZ, Asia New Zealand Foundation, Snow Sports NZ and Basecamp Adventures.

Pupils from Arrowtown spent their morning learning about the Olympic Games, what it takes to become an Olympian and what it’s like representing New Zealand on the world’s biggest sporting stage.

The morning got underway with a Q&A session with snowboarder Juliane Bray – New Zealand Winter Olympian #979 - who competed at the 2006 and 2010 Games. Juliane answered questions about what she had to do to qualify for the Games, including spending six months every year training and competing overseas. Her favourite place to snowboard is Canada, and although she no longer competes, she still loves snowboarding and enjoys coaching other young athletes.

Juliane was asked if she had met New Zealand Olympic gold medallist Zoi Sadowski-Synnott and shared that she has known Zoi since she was about eight years old, a similar age to the visitors from Arrowtown School, and that she had always been impressed by how hard Zoi has worked to become the successful athlete she is today. Juliane explained how she would often see Zoi out training on the mountain even on very bad weather days.

The pupils completed a Future Olympian Activity Sheet and were surprised to learn that there have been 112 Winter Olympians from New Zealand so far. They watched the China Quiz video to find out which of the 12 animals in the Chinese zodiac is represented in 2022, as well as the name of the imperial palace constructed in 1420 and located in Beijing.

The have-a-go activities proved to be particularly popular. Instructors from Basecamp Adventures assisted with a fun clip and climb activity and the pupils challenged themselves to climb high up on the wall and ladder features.

The visitors also got to try out their own version of a ‘slopestyle’ course, jumping on and over boxes, sliding along ‘rails’ (safely set at ground level unlike the ones we have been watching Zoi tackle!) and flipping into an airbag, under the watchful eye of Snow Sports NZ’s Park & Pipe Manager, Luke Hetzel.

“These guys are good!” said Luke. “I reckon we’ve got some future Olympians here for sure!”

The Arrowtown School pupils have been avid watchers of the 2022 Olympic Games so far and were amongst the thousands cheering for Zoi when she landed her gold medal in snowboard slopestyle over the weekend.

Nico Porteous is also a crowd favourite and these young fans are looking forward to seeing him compete in the freeski halfpipe next week.