New Zealand Sports Academy has coached many high-calibre national and international athletes over the past 16 years. Here are just some of our proud graduates.

1999
2001
2005
2007
2008
2009
Whangarei, North Habour & Rotorua 2010
Rotorua 2011
North Harbour 2011
Wellington 2011
Whangarei 2011

TESTIMONIAL

“My experience as a member of the New Zealand Sports Academy began in 2007, and an experience of a lifetime it was at that. I was an unestablished, inexperienced rugby player hoping to grow in knowledge and leave a footprint on the rugby world.

Upon joining I was informed that it was a full-time course that required only a few key attributes of me… “hard work, commitment, honesty and a whole lot of sweat”. It now dawns on me that it was a small price to pay for what I got out of it.

The trainers we had at the time were Darrel Shelford and Shaun Tata, and I cannot express how much I enjoyed having them there to kick me in the backside and, equally, the amount of work they put in to get the best out of us. The thing that amazes me the most about the coaching staff is just how vast their knowledge is. There doesn’t seem to be a thing they do not know about rugby which quickly rubs off on the students.

Once I completed the programme I joined the Bay of Plenty Rugby Academy which lead to playing for representative sides such as;
  • Bay of Plenty Under 20s
  • Bay of Plenty Development
  • Bay of Plenty Steamers
  • Bay of Plenty 7s

I was then contracted to a club side in Dallas, Texas, before being contracted to a club side in Sydney, Australia. All of which I accredit to the New Zealand Sports Academy.

I am currently a firefighter in Rotorua and spend a lot of my summers travelling with various invitational sevens teams and competing in tournaments worldwide."
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CURTIS VAN DER HEYDEN