Coaches' Profiles

Nic’s role is to lead and oversee sports programmes and staff, including the six Performance Sports Academies and the four Junior Sports Academies. He brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to this role.

Nic’s sporting background includes playing football to a high level in the UK. He has also managed sports programmes at several prestigious Auckland schools and was involved with Auckland Hockey’s high performance programme for a number of years. His passion is to help students to succeed at their chosen sport.

Sean has recently retired from playing professional rugby. In New Zealand he played for Waikato, Chiefs and the New Zealand Māori team. Overseas he played for Bristol and Leeds in English Premiership Rugby and the Heineken Cup (now the European Rugby Champions Cup).

Sean has been coaching St Peter’s 1st XV since 2014. He has also coached premier club team Fraser Tech and has worked as a resource coach for the Waikato Mitre10 Cup team.

Level 2 New Zealand Cricket Performance Coach Brett Sorrenson has coached Secondary School 1st XI, 2nd XI and Junior Colts teams to national success in the last five years. Prior to moving to St Peter's, he was player/coach with Cornwall cricket Club Premier Squads. Brett has played representative cricket for Bay of Plenty, Waikato Valley and Northern District teams and was awarded the Sir Edmund Hillary Scholarship for cricket at Waikato University.

Owen has New Zealand Cricket’s prestigious level 3 coaching qualification. He has 25 years of professional cricket coaching experience at all levels, from beginners to international players.

Owen has held numerous coaching positions at regional and national level, ranging from Assistant positions on the New Zealand White Ferns team, to coaching the New Zealand Northern Districts team at U19, U17, and U15 level. Hence, through his career he has coached many former and current Black Caps and White Ferns.

Carl has represented New Zealand as an open water swimmer, surf lifesaver and triathlete. He was twice New Zealand Swimmer of the Year and ranked in the top 10 open water swimmers in the world. Carl has coached pool swimmers, open water swimmers, surf lifesavers and triathletes to many successes both nationally and internationally.

As a coach Carl has travelled with the New Zealand swim team to the Oceania Open Water Swimming Championships, Australian Youth Olympic Festival, Trans-Tasman Tri-Series, and Trans-Tasman Open Water Competition. In 2007 Carl was the New Zealand open water coach at the FINA World Championships in Melbourne, Australia.

FINA — Fédération Internationale de Natation or International Swimming Federation

Ally represented New Zealand at two Olympic Games — Atlanta in 1996 and Athens in 2004. Ally won bronze medal at the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne in 2006. Over her 13 year international career she competed for New Zealand at five FINA World Championships. Ally was ten-time national 100m freestyle open champion and held the New Zealand record for that event and various others over 50m, 100m and 200m distances for long periods during her career. In 2008 Ally was awarded a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit for her services to swimming.

Before joining St Peter’s, Ally spent four years managing the testing programme for Drug Free Sport New Zealand which oversees many of New Zealand’s top teams and sportspeople, ensuring New Zealand has positive advocates and role models on the global stage.

FINA — Fédération Internationale de Natation or International Swimming Federation

Janey began rowing at St Peter’s, Cambridge and went on to compete for the Cambridge Rowing Club and Otago University. She has won five New Zealand titles including the Women’s Premier 8+. In 1995 Janey was a member of the New Zealand Under-22 team (now the New Zealand Youth Cup team).

Janey has over 16 years of coaching experience in New Zealand and overseas. In Canada she coached at Victoria City Rowing Club, Gorge Rowing Centre and the University of Victoria. In 2000 Janey coached Canada’s Junior Women’s 8+. In the USA she coached at Washington State University.

Janey has also coached a number of New Zealand representative teams including the New Zealand University Women’s four in 2002, the Junior Women’s four in 2007 and 2011, the Junior Women’s quad in 2010, the Under-23 Women’s four in 2008, the Under-21 Youth Cup team in 2006 and 2009.

In Norm's 28 year coaching career he has led 22 crews to Premier Titles at the New Zealand National Championships, and almost 30 crews to New Zealand Secondary Schools' Titles.

Norm is enthusiastic about helping young people reach their potential. Norm has coached for New Zealand, and his international results include a Bronze with NZ Junior Worlds Mens 1x in 1994, Silver with the NZ Womens' 4- at the 1995 & 1996 Nations' Cup, and a Bronze with NZ Mens' 1x in 1997. At the London 2012 Paralympics, Norm coached the Adaptive Mens' 1x to a 7th in the world.

Gerrit has experience as an ATP professional tennis player. He has been coaching for over 20 years on the ATP, WTA and ITF professional tours, working with players ranked as high as 20 in the WTA and 98 in the ATP. Gerrit has coached several New Zealand national title winners and number 1 ranked players.

ATP — Association of Tennis Professionals
WTA — Women’s Tennis Association
ITF — International Tennis Federation

Rebecca is a vastly experienced coach, having coached the St Peter's Premier team from B Grade into A Grade at the Upper North Island Secondary Schools, and achieving the highest finish in a 10th of her tenure.

She has also coached various Waikato Age Group representative teams, including the winners of the national titles at U19 and U23 level.

Rebecca was Assistant Coach of the Waikato Bay of Plenty BEKO team in 2015 and Head Coach the following year.

As a cyclist Tim represented New Zealand at the Atlanta and Sydney Olympics as well as being a double Commonwealth Games medallist.

In his time with the New Zealand National Cycling programme and the World Cycling Centre in Switzerland, he coached at three Olympic Games, three Commonwealth Games and multiple World Championships. Athletes under his guidance have won three Olympic medals and 16 World Championship medals.

Tim was Waikato Coach of the Year in 2015 and has previously been a finalist for the Halberg Coach of the Year awards.

Fiona has a strong background in competing, coaching, managing and event organisation. She first represented New Zealand as a 16 year old and went on to compete at the Sydney Olympic Games as well as at multiple Commonwealth Games and World Cup and World Championship cycling events.

Fiona’s strength in road racing has earned her national titles across all age groups from U15 to senior levels. She has retained close ties with top-level cycling since her competitive days, including coaching at the 2015 World Track Championships.

Simon has been a AAA class member of the New Zealand PGA for over 30 years. In his professional playing days Simon enjoyed a successful stint on the NZ ProAm circuit, including two consecutive NZ PGA National Club Professional titles. He spent two years as a full-time caddy on the European and Australasian tours and then 13 years as head professional at the prestigious Otago Golf Club in Dunedin.

Simon is a renowned technical and tactical coach. He was New Zealand assistant national coach from 2001 to 2004 and head coach of Southland Golf between 2002 and 2006. Simon has also coached NZ age-group teams in international competitions.

Simon coached the St Peter’s team that won the National Secondary School Championships in 2011 and 2015. He was involved in coaching two of our most successful golfers — Mahal Pearce who won the New Zealand Open Championship in 2003, and Matthew Perry who won the New Zealand Amateur Championship in 2011. Simon has been the head coach at our Golf Academy since it began in 2006. He brings vast experience and knowledge to our programme. His energy and passion for both the game and working with emerging golfers is an integral part of the continued success of our Golf Academy.

PGA — Professional Golfers’ Association
ProAm — a golf competition involving professional and amateur players

Reon is a AAA class member of the New Zealand PGA and a professional golf coach. He enjoyed a successful 13 year playing career, beginning as an amateur in New Zealand before playing professionally on the Australiasian tour. Reon also has extensive experience as a New Zealand representative.

Reon’s professional coaching career began in 2004 at Lakes Resort Golf and Country Club in Pauanui. In 2009 he spent a year in China as the head coach at the New Zealand China Golf Academy, setting up its operations and programmes. Reon has also been a New Zealand Golf development coach, and has been a New Zealand Golf teams performance manager since 2011. He has been a coach at St Peter’s Golf Academy since 2007.

PGA — Professional Golfers’ Association

Former international youth footballer and professional coach, Shane Knowles is the Director of Football at St Peter’s.

Amongst Shane’s notable achievements, he was twice awarded Auckland Football Coach of the Year, named Sport Waitakere Coach of the Year, has led teams to the finals in the Chatham Cup (the most prestigious New Zealand-wide club competition), and has helped produce youth international players through his development programmes.

Shane has been coaching men and women’s football for over 21 years. Prior to coming to St Peter’s, he was the Director of Football at Bay Olympic Football Club in Auckland.

At St Peter’s, Shane presides over the football programme as well the Junior Football Academy. He is also the coach of the 1st XI Boys’ team.

Peter has a range of knowledge in all aspects of the equestrian world. He has a commercial background and has worked for big companies in Singapore where he and his family lived for 19 years. Peter has a vision of what the equestrian world will be like in the future, and how we need to prepare our students for it.

Leanne was captain for the New Zealand Women’s basketball team at the Sydney (2000) and Athens (2004) Olympic Games and has represented New Zealand in Touch Rugby. Leanne was Māori Sportswoman of the Year in 2003 and again in 2004, when she also received awards from Basketball NZ and Touch NZ. Leanne’s work in these two sports has been recognised with the Senior Māori Sportswoman award, presented to her at the Trillian Trust Māori Sports Awards for her outstanding contribution to Māori Sport.

Leanne’s passion for sport has made a significant contribution to St Peter’s and the wider community. During her long career Leanne has mentored many young players. She has coached basketball and touch rugby teams at St Peter’s and at regional and national levels.

Jess is an experienced track athlete. She has represented Waikato Bay of Plenty and Whanganui in 4x400m and 4x100m relay teams, won the NZSS national 4x400m relay title in 2001, and obtained silver medals in the NZSS senior girls 400m event in 2003, and the senior women’s event in 2008.

Jess has a wealth of experience in sports management. In 2011 and 2012 she was operations manager for the New Zealand Secondary School cross country team in Australia. Jess was operations manager for the New Zealand team at the Oceania Area Championships in Tahiti in 2013, and team manager in Rarotonga in 2014. She was also New Zealand’s team manager at the Commonwealth Youth Games in Samoa in 2015. In 2016 she went to the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) World Junior Championships in Poland as operations manager for the New Zealand team.

Angela played netball at the regional level for Waikato before taking up coaching. She has over 20 years coaching experience that includes Waikato age-group and senior representative teams. Angela has High Performance Sport New Zealand’s Performance Coach Advanced qualification. She is part of Sport New Zealand’s Pathway to Podium programme, coaching emerging athletes in netball and athletics. Angela has coached athletes to medals in national track events and representation for New Zealand.
She was appointed to the coaching/management team for the NZSS Athletics Team tour to Australia, and has planned and led two St Peter’s Track and Field Tours to the USA.

Passionate about helping our youth to learn and grow their capabilities, as well as an all-round sportsman, Todd Barker is a welcome addition to Sport at St Peter’s in the role of Strength and Conditioning Coach.

Todd brings with him a wealth of experience, having worked as Strength & Conditioning Coach for the Waikato Rugby Union for the past 10 years. He has also worked extensively with secondary students, boys and girls, at school and regional level.