New Zealand Cricket President Debbie Hockley. Photo / Photosport
A wide range of sportspeople have been recognised in the 2021 New Year honours list.
Companion of the NZ Order of Merit for services to cricket
Almost 20 years to the day of her greatest triumph in a long and successful cricket career, White Ferns great Debbie Hockley continues to strive in making the women's game as strong as ever in New Zealand.
Hockley was first made a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit in the 1999 New Year honours before helping lead the White Ferns to victory in the 2000 World Cup final, the nation's only World Cup cricket title.
Hockley, who has been President of New Zealand Cricket since 2016, having been the first woman elected to this position in the 122-year history of the organisation, said the latest honour was a surprise.
"I really was a stunned mullet. I received an email from the Honours unit and I have to admit I thought someone was possibly pulling a prank on me," Hockley told NZME.
Hockley had an international cricket career representing New Zealand between 1979 and 2000. She retired from playing after the 2000 World Cup, having amassed 1301 runs, including four centuries in 19 test matches. She played in 118 one-day internationals and was captain for 27, including six test matches.
In 2013 she became the fourth woman and the first New Zealand woman to be inducted into the ICC Hall of Fame.
Reflecting on her career, the triumph over Australia at Bert Sutcliffe Oval was the highlight after coming so close to claiming the World Cup in previous years.
"I knew that tournament would be my last…after having attended four previous World Cups and being part of a successful team that had made two finals that we had unfortunately lost, winning that World Cup final out at Lincoln College was unquestionably the highlight of what had been a long time trying to get my hands on that jolly trophy," said Hockley.
Since retiring Hockley has been a strong advocate for women's cricket. She contributed to a major review by New Zealand Cricket in 2015 of the state of women's cricket nationally.
As a result of the review, New Zealand Cricket has significantly increased the number of women represented on its national and provincial boards and successfully promoted a cricket programme encouraging school-aged girls to participate in in a no-pressure, fun, and enjoyable environment.
"I think especially in the last few years New Zealand Cricket has really got on board with seeing if we can rectify probably a few years where we weren't perhaps paying quite as much attention to the females in cricket. I'm really delighted about that.
"We've got a fair way to go but the fact that we're recognising that fact we need to put more resources into girls and females playing cricket, I'm delighted with that. We want cricket to be a game for all New Zealanders, especially we want to encourage a lot more girls and women to play. I can't help but be an advocate for that considering I had so many opportunities myself."
Companion of the NZ Order of Merit for services to athletics and the game of bridge
The 98-year-old's vast list of achievements include coaching Sir John Walker to his gold medal triumph at the 1976 Montreal Olympic Games. Fourty years on, Jelley again made his presence felt at Olympic level, as 1500m runner Hamish Carson qualified for the Rio Games under his tutelage. At the time Jelley was the oldest top-level coach in New Zealand sport at 94.
Jelley says Walker's Olympic gold was a career highlight, but known as a calm coach he said the most animated he ever got during a race was the famous 1974 battle between Walker and Tanzanian great Filbert Bayi at the Christchurch Commonwealth Games. Bayi edged Walker in the 1500m final with both runners breaking the world record time.
"My brother told me that's the only time he'd seen me excited at the end of a race. After the race I was looking at my watch, stood up from my seat and yelled out 'it's a world record'. Which is very unlike me," he told NZME.
Twenty of the athletes he coached represented New Zealand, with twelve competing either in the Olympics or World Championships. Between 1976 and 1993 he was appointed as coach or manager to twelve New Zealand or Oceania teams, including three Olympic Games teams. Outside of athletics, he has been involved with the Mt Albert Bridge Club and New Zealand Bridge where he has been a bridge tutor since 1996 and was President from 2003 to 2013.
"It's a great honour for me and my family. But also a tribute to the dozens and dozens of amateur coaches all across New Zealand. Without amateur coaches, most sports would perish," Jelley said.
Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to basketball
Shipley is widely regarded for his administrative work both domestically and in the international game of basketball. He chaired the New Zealand National Basketball League from 1999 to 2004 and the New Zealand Breakers from 2005 to 2010. He joined the Oceania Basketball Board as an advisor in 2010 and was elected President in 2013, recently being re-elected in 2019.
He is the only New Zealander to sit on the International Basketball Federation's (FIBA) Executive Committee. He has been Vice Chair of the International Basketball Foundation, which uses basketball as a vehicle for social change around the world. Shipley chaired the 2019 Basketball World Cup tournament hosted by China, and was subsequently appointed Vice President of FIBA.
Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to rugby
Cocksedge has been a trailblazer for women's rugby and in 2018 was the first woman to win New Zealand Rugby's top award, the Kelvin R Tremain Memorial Player of the Year. The Black Ferns halfback has played in more than 50 tests, having made her test debut in 2007, and is the second-most capped Black Fern.
She is a two-time World Cup winner as a member of the 2010 and 2017 successful campaigns. She was named World Rugby Women's Player of the Year and New Zealand Rugby Women's Player of the Year in 2015.
Cocksedge has also represented New Zealand in rugby sevens, playing in three tournaments for the Black Ferns Sevens and was part of the team that won the Women's Sevens World Series in 2013. Domestically, she has played for the Canterbury Farah Palmer Cup side since 2007 and was the first player in the competition to surpass 1000 points.
Cocksedge told NZME she thought the initial email informing her of the honour was spam.
"It's a huge honour and pretty special," she said. "It's amazing to reflect on what I've achieved in my career. I never thought I'd achieve what I've achieved and something like this is that icing on the top of the cake."
Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit for to services freediving
Trubridge is a multiple world record holder for freediving and in 2005 became the first freediver to dive at Dean's Blue Hole in the Bahamas. There he broke his first world record in the discipline of CNF (Constant Weight No Fins) in 2007, diving to 81 metres. In 2010, he became the first human to descend to 100 metres with no assistance and furthered this record to 102 metres in 2016, which still stands. He also set the world record in Free Immersion in 2016 with 124 metres.
He founded Vertical Blue, which is both the most prestigious annual freediving competition as well as a freediving school in the Bahamas, for which he is Course Director. He has advanced the development of the sport internationally through the school and events. In 2011 and 2012 he received the World's Absolute Freediver Award. In 2019, Trubridge completed an 'underwater crossing' of the Cook Strait as a series of 934 breath hold dives.
Mike Thorpe argues the numbers suggest that they are.