3 days ago
Olympic-level coach integral to the sport
A man described as a pioneer of swimming in New Zealand says he was not a swimmer of note himself, and "sort of drifted into coaching".
Pleasant Point man Clive Power has been made an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to swimming in the King's Birthday Honours.
Mr Power has dedicated more than 50 years to coaching and mentoring both coaches and swimmers at all levels, and was instrumental in the success of some of New Zealand's top swimmers and swim coaches.
He said the honour was a surprise, but one he was very appreciative of.
While for most of his career he was based in the North Island, and in the recreation department at Christchurch Polytechnic, he and his wife Joyce moved to Pleasant Point 14 years ago, to be closer to their two sons.
He picked up the role of coach at CBay when it opened, until a permanent appointment could be made.
At 79, he says over the last couple of years he has "slowly petered out".
"It's really time to step down and let the next generation come through."
Educated mostly in Te Awamutu, before heading to university and teacher's college, his physical education background led to his career in coaching.
"I used to look after 'the baths' and drifted in to coaching from that point on.
"I wasn't a swimmer of any note at all, I played mostly water polo, but there wasn't the same number of coaches at that time, and it was just how things happened."
The sport had changed considerably over the past 50 years, from lifting weights made out of concrete in the garage, to today's high-performance centres.
"You had to be creative, you had to think about things a little more deeply, to make things work."
Holding several positions at regional, national and international levels including as New Zealand swim team coach for several tours, Commonwealth Games, Olympics Games and Paralympics Games, Mr Power said there had been a lot of highlights.
"To focus on one would be unkind to a lot of the athletes I coached."
However, his involvement in taking paralympic swimming from something "pretty gratuitous" to today's sport for high performance athletes in their own right and on an equal footing to their able-bodied fellow athletes, was particularly satisfying.
Now enjoying being based in South Canterbury, Mr and Mrs Power were making the most of the opportunity to explore in their motorhome.
"As with everybody that gets to this point, you have to pass on your thanks to family members.
"There's a hell of a lot of sacrifices that go into careers, you can't be whistling off overseas without that support."
