HPS to focus on national federation’s specific needs

With the Commonwealth Games and Samoa Pacific Games in sight, it is important for national federations to gauge where they are at in terms of athlete and team preparations.
High Performance Sport (HPS) Papua New Guinea director Aaron Alsop said such information would assist them to address needs.
Speaking after the champions workshop attended by 60 people representing 30-plus sports codes, Alsop said it was encouraging to see the number of national federations interested to learn more about what HPS PNG offers.
“It is interesting, the diversity of the sport that we have, how varied their needs are,” Alsop said.
“I think it is very important that we are deliberate and provide individual support services to make sure that they match what they need and where they are at.
“We know that we have different programmes with a youth focus at the moment. There are some of the sports starting to finalise preparations for the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games, a different focus with the Samoa Pacific Games in 500 days.
“We need to be ready for all those areas and the agility of our team of people to be able to meet those needs is quite vital.”
Alsop said using a new model that centred on individualising all their services, HPS PNG could meet the concerns of national federations.
Although acknowledging that the HP team could not be everything to everyone, they have adopted the thinking of ensuring they have the right people in the right place.
The national federations were also quite excited to learn more about programmes offered by HPS PNG including some areas of athletes preparation, talent ID, coach education and development, dual career and lifestyle performance.
HPSPNG also announced that there would be a national coaching conference in July.