Welcome to Ian Ridgway Our new Sports Development Director Last year a Sports Committee was formed to review how the school could further develop the Sports Department. One of the initiatives that came out of this review was to create a new role, the Sports Development Director. This role has been created to help lead the department and college in strategic planning and sponsorship, as well as developing and facilitating leadership programmes for emerging sports leaders, both students and adults. We were very lucky to secure Ian Ridgway to this role. In order to get to know a little bit about Ian we asked him the following questions… Tell us about your background? Why did you choose teaching as a career and what has led you to where you are in your career now? I first realised that teaching would be a huge part of my life when I was 17 years old and at college back in England. Learning how to coach various sports was a big part of my course, but it wasn’t until we started teaching groups of children from the local Special Needs School that I actually experienced a ‘goosebump’ moment where I knew this was where I needed to focus my passion and energy in helping young people fall in love with physical activity. I didn’t realise then that this would become my infinite purpose. That specific moment in time I remember as if it was yesterday. I had planned a lesson with a classmate which involved
teaching the group of SEN children to simply catch and pass, this would then be expanded into a bigger fun game. I happened to spend a small amount of time working with a young girl who was wheelchair bound due to severe cerebral palsy. After 5 minutes of being unable to catch a medium sized soft ball, she finally caught the ball I had passed to her. The look and explosion of excitement and the sense of achievement that came from her gave me goosebumps that lasted a lifetime. When I arrived home later that day I told my parents that I had found my purpose and where I was heading, to be a teacher of Physical Education. What were you doing prior to moving to Ōtūmoetai College? Before heading to Ōtūmoetai College I was Head of High Performance Sport at Otahuhu College, Auckland. I spent three and a half years there working with a variety of sportsmen and women specifically enhancing their physical qualities required by the specific positions or events of their chosen sport. This was expanded to all students who just wanted to move and feel better about themselves and we delved into the importance of nutrition and recovery. While there I was also heavily involved in the coaching of rugby across the Rugby Academy and 1st XV. Before heading to Auckland I had returned home to England for a year with my wife and two children after spending ten years living and working in Hong Kong. What is your role here at Ōtūmoetai College? What do you hope to achieve in this role? My job title here at Ōtūmoetai College is Sports Development Director, from that you can reshuffle the 18
