Sport in New Zealand
New Zealanders love sport.
It’s a great country in which to play sport. Few countries can match the facilities provided to most NZ residents by nature - clean air and plenty of space. Lives of high activity and nutritious food have helped develop generations of extraordinary athletes.
New Zealand has produced Olympic gold medallists and world champions in rugby, mountain-climbing, yachting, middle-distance running, equestrian, rowing, swimming, kayaking, cycling and mountain biking and many more have maintained a proud tradition of high performancein these sports.
But even in global sports like football and basketball New Zealand is able to regularly surprise more favoured countries.
However like many developed countries the number of inactive children is growing, just as we get more evidence of the positive effects of lifelong exercise.
To help support and coordinate efforts to meet this challenge the government formed the Sport and Recreation Council, or SPARC.
This is a great place to start any enquiry about sport in New Zealand, but a Google search of your sport is also likely to give useful starting points.
Further information
SPARC
Rugby
Football
Netball
Cricket
Hockey
Basketball
Golf
History
