College Sport: New head Currie has open-door policy

Dave Currie says if anybody's grumpy, we'll have a chat. Picture / NZME.

Campbell Burnes sat down with College Sport chief executive Dave Currie, who has been in the job just a few months. This is part one of a two-part interview; read the second in next week's College Sport.

What made you swap the quiet life of Raglan for the hurly burly of Auckland and the politics of College Sport?
A couple of things, really. I'm always wanting to do something where I feel I can add some value and make a difference. I have two grandsons entering secondary school, so I know something about college sport.

They had the courage to do a strategic review a couple of years ago which said quite clearly that they needed to understand better what students wanted, [and that College Sport] needed to work more closely with national sporting organisations and Sport New Zealand. So the opportunity to join the dots around that, and keep the needs of young people and what they want at the centre of it, was an exciting prospect.

It was nice, after working in that rarefied high performance atmosphere, to come back to something more grounded.

Is it tough to get your head around all the issues in a region with around 45 sporting codes, 107 schools and around 100,000 students in sport?
I understand sport and sporting structures. Yes, the school environment is moderately unique, and there are issues around that.

My experience is that there are more things that are similar than different. So, yes, it's complex and there's a bit to get my head around, but [there are] really good sport managers here, they brief me well.

We collectively make decisions as a matter of policy. I'm really keen to talk about it if there is a challenge with a school or a sport. Emails are a great way to send information but a terrible way to communicate.

So, if anybody's grumpy with us, we'll have a chat. It's about under-standing what our relative positions are, rather than firing shots at each other. Thus far, it's gone pretty well.

One of your predecessors, Manoj Daji, was, via the website, often outspoken about College Sport issues. Will you operate in similar vein or in-house?
I'm new. You've got to gain some credibility, so talking about something without understanding what the background is is not helpful.

But as a matter of principle, and despite our regard for what you do for us at the Herald, I wouldn't intend to have a debate through the media, because you never quite get the full story. If you understand each other's point of view, there's very few times, in my experience, when you haven't been able to reach some kind of consensus. I won't shy away from the hard discussions. If there's an elephant in the room, let's discuss it. There are one or two, it would be fair to say. But we'll do it face to face.

The direction of much of College Sport is driven through the board of ASSHA (Auckland Secondary Schools Heads Association). I imagine there is plenty of robust discussion when it meets?
We had a meeting [last week]. Like any board, their role is a governance one. Michael Leach [of King's] is the ASSHA chairman. I enjoy working with him. We have a good relationship. The board of 12 principals represents the 107 schools.

At the AGM in March, that will change. There will be seven principals, and three who are not principals, appointed. That was part of the strategic review. That's helpful to give an independent view rather than just a principals' one.

Yes, it is a school organisation, but everyone has a self-interest.

Do you see College Sport's role more as a facilitator or driving governance?
We intend to talk to every sport about how it operates, whether it is run by committee or we do it. That's the sensible thing to do. You can never run every sport. We don't have the resources and wouldn't want to.

We need more young people involved in sport at school. It's plateaued at about 50 per cent. So clearly doing more of what we are doing is only going to give us the same result. So, working with schools, councils and sporting organisations ... do we make competitions shorter, do we cluster schools differently?

There will always be strong premier competitions, that's important, but equally we want young people to have a really good experience at school, to enjoy it and carry on when they leave.

So we have a responsibility to have a really good premier competition, and create a good experience at a more participatory level.

We are looking to have a conversation with students from around 25 schools to see if things are working and what we can do better.

3 facts about Dave Currie

Cricket manager
Black Caps manager from 2009-11.
Games boss
Chef de Mission for NZ teams at three Olympic and three Commonwealth Games.
Honours
Companion of the NZ Order of Merit in 2009.