Sport New Zealand (Sport NZ) (

Māori Māori or Maori can refer to: Relating to the Māori people * Māori people of New Zealand, or members of that group * Māori language, the language of the Māori people of New Zealand * Māori culture * Cook Islanders, the Māori people of the Co ...

: ''Ihi Aotearoa'') is a New Zealand

Crown entity A Crown entity (from the Commonwealth term ''The Crown, Crown'') is an organisation that forms part of New Zealand's public sector organisations in New Zealand, state sector established under the Crown Entities Act 2004, a unique umbrella governa ...

responsible for governing sport and recreation in New Zealand. Their subsidiary

High Performance Sport New Zealand Sport New Zealand (Sport NZ) (Māori: ''Ihi Aotearoa'') is a New Zealand Crown entity responsible for governing sport and recreation in New Zealand. Their subsidiary High Performance Sport New Zealand deals with elite athletes. Legislati ...

deals with

elite athletes High performance sport or elite sport is sport at the highest level of competition. In sports administration, "high-performance sport", where the emphasis is on winning prestigious competitions, is distinguished from " mass sport" or "recreational ...

Legislation and functions

The principal governing legislation of Sport NZ is the Sport and Recreation New Zealand Act 2002. As a Crown entity, it is responsible to the Minister of Sport and Recreation via its board of directors. Section 8 of the Act sets out the functions of Sport New Zealand as the following: * Develop and implement national policies and strategies for physical recreation and sport * Allocate funds to organisations and regional bodies in line with its policies and strategies * Promote and advocate the importance of participation in physical activity by all New Zealanders for their health and well-being * Promote and disseminate research relevant to physical recreation and sport * Provide advice to the Minister on issues relating to physical recreation and sport * Promote and support the development and implementation of physical recreation and sport in a way that is culturally appropriate to

* Encourage participation in physical recreation and sport by Pacific peoples,

women A woman is an adult female human. Before adulthood, a female child or adolescent is referred to as a girl. Typically, women are of the female sex and inherit a pair of X chromosomes, one from each parent, and women with functional u ...

, older New Zealanders, and

people with disabilities Disability is the experience of any condition that makes it more difficult for a person to do certain activities or have equitable access within a given society. Disabilities may be cognitive, developmental, intellectual, mental, physical, ...

* Recognise the role of physical recreation and sport in the rehabilitation of people with disabilities * Facilitate the resolution of disputes between persons or organisations involved in physical recreation and sport * Work with schools, regional, central, and local government, and physical recreation and sports organisations to ensure the maintenance and development of the physical and organisational infrastructure for physical recreation and sport * Work with health, education, and other agencies to promote greater participation in physical recreation and sport through policy development, advocacy, and support, in line with the objectives of the New Zealand health strategy * Provide advice and support for organisations working in physical recreation and sport at national, regional, and local levels * Facilitate co-ordination between national, regional, and local physical recreation and sport organisations * Represent the Government’s policy interests in physical recreation and sport internationally.

History

In 2022, Sport NZ introduced its "Guiding Principles for the Inclusion of Transgender People in Community Sport" to regulate the participation of

transgender A transgender (often shortened to trans) person has a gender identity different from that typically associated with the sex they were sex assignment, assigned at birth. The opposite of ''transgender'' is ''cisgender'', which describes perso ...

people in competitive sports. In October 2024, Sport and Recreation Minister

Chris Bishop Christopher Bishop (born 4 September 1983) is a New Zealand politician for the National Party. He was first elected to the New Zealand House of Representatives in 2014 as a list MP. Bishop won the Hutt South electorate in 2017 but lost the ...

instructed Sport NZ to review its 2022 Guiding Principles, emphasising that they were supposed to be voluntary rather than mandatory.

High Performance Sport New Zealand

High Performance Sport New Zealand (HPSNZ) is the subsidiary of Sport New Zealand responsible for governing New Zealand's

high performance sport High performance sport or elite sport is sport at the highest level of competition. In sports administration, "high-performance sport", where the emphasis is on winning prestigious competitions, is distinguished from "mass sport" or "recreational s ...

programme. It was formed in 2011 following the merger of Sport New Zealand's high performance unit with the country's two academies of sport.

References

{{NZ Sport Sports governing bodies in New Zealand New Zealand Crown agents