Beyond the Elite Pathway
Elite athletes have coaches, pathways and performance tracking. Yet they represent only a small percentage of people who participate in sport.
When I first spoke with Gymnastics New Zealand CEO Andrea Nelson, she challenged our team at Friendly Manager to think differently about where sport creates its greatest impact.
They weren't trying to solve an elite performance problem. They were trying to create a better participation experience for 35,000 recreational gymnasts. How do you help thousands of young gymnasts track and celebrate progress while giving parents, coaches, and participants a shared understanding of that journey?
It's a challenge that many sports face. Parents invest countless hours supporting their children, but often have little visibility into their progress. Coaches work hard to develop young participants but have limited time to communicate with every family. National sporting organisations need meaningful data to understand participation and retention trends, while clubs need practical tools that make life easier, not harder.
For Gymnastics New Zealand, the challenge was even greater. Their recreational programme, Kiwi GymFun, had served the sport well for many years, but it hadn't been significantly updated since 1996. At the same time, Gymnastics New Zealand had a bold strategic vision: to make gymnastics the first-choice sport for every young New Zealander. Not because every child would become an elite gymnast. But because gymnastics teaches the fundamental movement skills that underpin a lifetime of physical activity. Balance, coordination, confidence and the ability to move well.
The challenge was clear. To achieve that vision, Gymnastics New Zealand asked clubs what they needed. The feedback was consistent: greater flexibility, better skill tracking, and stronger communication between coaches, gymnasts and parents. How could Gymnastics New Zealand modernise the recreational experience for the 85% of members who participate recreationally while strengthening the connection between clubs, coaches, gymnasts and parents? The result was Springboard, a new recreational gymnastics programme designed to help every gymnast understand, track and celebrate their progress while creating a shared experience between the gymnast, coach and parent.
Making Progress Visible
What struck me most during my conversation with Andrea wasn't the technology. It was the philosophy behind it.
When Gymnastics New Zealand consulted with clubs about what they needed, the feedback was consistent. Clubs wanted a flexible way to assess gymnasts, track progress and communicate directly with parents. They wanted parents to understand what their children were learning and why it mattered.
Because gymnastics is a highly technical sport, a parent watching their child rock backwards and forwards on a mat might not realise they're seeing the first steps towards a cartwheel, a handstand or eventually a somersault.
Without context, progress can be difficult to see. With context, every milestone becomes meaningful. That insight became central to Springboard.
Creating a Shared Understanding
Today, parents can view their child's progress in Friendly Manager, understand the skills they're developing and celebrate achievements along the way. Coaches can communicate progress more effectively. Gymnasts can see their own development. Clubs can strengthen engagement with families. Everyone is working from the same understanding.
As Andrea described it, the vision was to create a shared understanding between coach, gymnast and parent.
That shared understanding matters.
As a parent myself, I've stood on the sidelines of countless sporting activities wondering how my children are progressing. I can see they're enjoying themselves, but I don't always understand the journey they're on or the skills they're building.
Springboard helps bridge that gap. It turns participation into engagement. It turns activity into achievement. And perhaps most importantly, it gives families more reasons to celebrate progress together.
Value Creation
What I also admire is the way Gymnastics New Zealand approached the rollout. This wasn't about imposing another system on clubs. It was about creating value.
The programme was made available to clubs at no additional cost because Gymnastics New Zealand recognised that recreational participants deserved the same level of investment and innovation often reserved for competitive pathways.
That decision says a lot about leadership priorities.
Too often in sport, attention naturally gravitates towards elite performance. Yet for most parents, the biggest win isn't a podium finish, it's seeing their child master a cartwheel, gain confidence, and want to come back next week.
Sustainable growth comes from creating exceptional experiences for those participants and their families.
With 91 clubs and 35,000 recreational gymnasts, Gymnastics New Zealand understands that the future of the sport depends on helping more young people stay involved for longer.
From Participation to Insight
The data emerging through Springboard is already helping provide a clearer picture of sports participation, member retention and club growth across the country. Rather than relying on anecdotal evidence, Gymnastics New Zealand can better understand which programmes are thriving, where support is needed and how participants are progressing through the sport.
That's powerful, because it's data that can be used to create better experiences for people.
The Future Belongs to the 99%
Turning that vision into reality required more than a new programme. It required a platform that could connect clubs, coaches, parents and gymnasts. That's where Friendly Manager became involved.
For many years, our philosophy has been simple: if clubs succeed, sports succeed. The best technology in sport isn't technology that serves a national office first. It's technology that helps coaches coach, helps volunteers volunteer, helps clubs grow and helps participants have a better experience.
That's why the Friendly Manager partnership with Gymnastics New Zealand has worked so well. We share the same objective. Making life easier for clubs and creating better experiences for participants.
Every sport has pathways for its top 1%. The organisations that will thrive over the next decade will be the ones that create meaningful experiences for the other 99%.
Because participation isn't just about turning up. It's about feeling connected, seeing progress, celebrating achievement, and building a lifelong love of sport.
That's what Gymnastics New Zealand has recognised through Springboard. By investing in the members who participate recreationally, they're not just building better gymnasts, they're strengthening clubs, engaging families, and creating the foundations for the future of the sport.
The lesson extends far beyond gymnastics.
The future belongs to the sports that make every participant feel like they matter.