Rowing New Zealand Elite Development Squad Coach Appointment Announcement
Rowing New Zealand Elite Development Squad Coach - Appointment Announcement
11 October, 2021
We are proud to announce that Matt Cameron has been newly appointed to the role of Elite Development Squad Coach.
Rowing NZ would like to acknowledge the strong candidates they met through the interview process. The interview panel included an external High Performance Sport New Zealand representative.
Matt has been an U23 coach for four years. 2018 was his first campaign with the team where he was selected to coach the New Zealand U23 Women’s Sculling Squad and won gold with Sam Voss in the Women’s Single.
Matt’s first exposure to international rowing was as a coxswain in the 2007 Junior Men’s Four, and again in 2008. He was then selected as coxswain of the U23 Men’s Four in 2009.
In 2011 Matt switched to coaching and assisted Gary Roberts (now member of Rowing NZ’s elite coaching team) at Waikato Diocesan.
On a break from coaching, Matt pursued dairy farming and completed a Business Management Degree (BMS) majoring in Management Communications (MCOM) at the University of Waikato. Then in 2015 he joined Waikato Rowing Club as a part-time coach, at a time when the club had 7 athletes. This position quickly turned into a full-time role with approximately 70 athletes now in the club.
Matt’s first coaching role with Rowing NZ was as a University Trans-Tasman coach in 2015. Through Waikato Rowing Club, Matt worked with three athletes from Vanuatu, Samoa, and Fiji as part of the FISA Development Programme. This coaching opportunity afforded him the chance to take crews to the Asian and Oceania Qualification Regatta and ultimately to the 2016 Rio Olympics coaching Vanuatu’s Men’s Single.
Matt upskilled himself in coaching through Rowing NZ community coaching courses and has continued his coaching development as part of the Prime Ministers Scholarship Programme.
Matt’s priority at the beginning of his coaching career was to complete his degree and grow Waikato Rowing Club before considering nomination for coaching positions within New Zealand teams - goals he has now achieved.
Matt will be joining the team on Wednesday 13 October albeit remotely due to Waipa region currently being in Level 3.