By TERRY MADDAFORD
Despite the success of the much-lauded Australian Institute of Sport in Canberra, a visiting expert insists bricks and mortar play only a small part in sporting success across the Tasman.
Jason Gulbin, the director of the AIS talent search programme who is in Auckland as a guest of
the Peter Snell Sports Academy for two presentations today, said individual identification of budding sporting stars was not paramount.
"The key is not so much in identifying the talent but what you do with it once you have reached that stage.
"I prefer to see younger people start out in a group environment rather than being pushed individually by pushy parents.
"And you don't need a lot of money to run a talent identification programme. Often a coach is prepared to do that early work for nothing.
"In some sports in Australia such as cycling and cricket, there are many people happy to do this talent spotting."
Gulbin, whose last visit to Auckland was as a competitor in the New Zealand Ironman triathlon in 1997 - he was one of a group disqualified for drafting on the cycling section - said the AIS remains the domain of Australia's elite sportsmen and women, but there is just as much work being done at eight state academies around Australia.
Once the infrastructure of the Peter Snell Academy is in place, Gulbin hopes to return and assist in the fine-tuning.
Again, he stresses the small part buildings play in this.
"The Victorian Institute of Sport, as an example, basically does without facilities. They out-source their work, yet it is regarded by budding sports stars as the ultimate to be recognised as a VIS scholarship holder."
While Australians continue to bathe in the Olympic glory won by athletes such as Ian Thorpe and Cathy Freeman, Gulbin maintains there is no room for complacency.
