Our Speakers

SPPC for 2019 will showcase another exceptional line up of both internationally and nationally renowed professionals across the sporting spectrum, presenting and sharing their expert knowledge and industry experience for our on-going learning and development and that of our sports people of NZ. This year we will feature speakers across many topical areas; the female athlete, mental wellbeing, performance and prevention, including clinical aspects and practical applications.

Mick Hughes

Mick is an experienced Physiotherapist & Exercise Physiologist who consults at The Melbourne Sports Medicine Centre.

Mick has expertise in ACL injury management and ACL injury prevention and has previously worked for elite sporting teams such as the Collingwood Magpies Netball team, Newcastle Jets U20s Soccer team and NQ Cowboys U20s Rugby League team.

Dr Tim Gabbett

Dr. Tim Gabbett has over 20 years experience working as an applied sport scientist with athletes and coaches from a wide range of sports.

He holds a PhD in Human Physiology and has completed a second PhD in Applied Sport Science, with special reference to physical demands, injury prevention, and skill acquisition.

Tim has worked with elite international athletes over several Olympic Games cycles and continues to work as a sport science consultant and advisor for several high performance teams around the world. Tim has published over 250 peer-reviewed articles and has presented at over 400 national and international conferences.

He is committed to providing ‘real world’ support for coaches and athletes. To contact Tim visit www.gabbettperformance.com

Stacy T Sims Phd

Stacy T. Sims, is currently a Senior Research Scientist at the University of Waikato after returning to academia from a 6-year hiatus in industry.

She is an applied researcher, innovator and entrepreneur in human performance, specifically sex differences in training, nutrition, and environmental conditions. Prior to being launched into industry, she served as an exercise physiologist and nutrition scientist at Stanford University from 2007 to 2012, where she specialized in sex differences of environmental and nutritional considerations for recovery and performance. specializing in women's health and performance. With the unique opportunities Silicon Valley has to offer, during her tenure at Stanford, she had the opportunity to translate earlier research into consumer products and a science-based layperson's book written to explain sex differences in training and nutrition across the lifespan. Both the consumer product companies and the book challenged the existing dogma for women in exercise, nutrition, and health outcomes..

Her contributions to the international research environment and the sports nutrition industry has established a new niche in sports nutrition; and established her reputation as the expert in sex differences in training, nutrition, and health. As a direct result, she has been named as one of the to 50 visionaries of the running industry (2015), one of the top 40 women changing the paradigm of her field (2017), one of the top four visionaries in the outdoor sport industry (2017), and one of the top four individuals changing the landscape in triathlon nutrition (2017). A regular featured speaker at professional and academic conferences, including those hosted by USOC, HPSNZ, and USA cycling, she resides in Mount Maunganui with her husband and young daughter.

Matt Whalan

Matt is a physiotherapist and exercise physiologist and is currently completing his PhD in injury prevention in football at The University of Wollongong.

He is part of Australia’s National Teams Unit working with the men’s Young Socceroos (U20s), Joeys (U17s) and women’s Young Matildas (U20s)..

He is also the head of Physiotherapy and Medical Services at Wollongong Wolves FC and has also worked with a range of other sporting codes including NSW County Cricket, South Sydney Rabbitohs (NRL) and Gold Cost Suns (AFL).

Dr John Sampson

John is a Sports Scientist and has been a Senior Lecturer at The University of Wollongong for the past 10 years.

Prior to moving to Australia he worked with Premier League Football and Super League Rugby clubs in the UK as a sports performance consultant..

His primary research interests revolve around injury prevention and training load optimisation with current projects extending across professional Rugby League (NRL), American College Football, Community Sport and within the Australian Military training regime.

Sharon Kearney

Sharon is a physiotherapist based in Christchurch and is currently the NetballSmart Injury Reduction Programme Manager with Netball New Zealand.

Sharon has been involved with Netball New Zealand for over 26 years and as the former Silver Ferns Physiotherapist she attended 5 World Netball Champs, 2 Commonwealth Games and 3 World Youth Cups. .

In addition to working with the Elite netball programme Sharon worked with High Performance athletes at HPSNZ/New Zealand Academy of Sport since its inception. Sharon has now moved her focus to community based Netball by leading and developing the NNZ Injury reduction programme. Minimising Injury risk has always been an important part of Sharon’s high performance career to date and now she is enjoying having the time and capacity to make a meaningful difference to the “everyday athlete”.

Dr Dan Exeter

Dan is a Sport and Exercise Physician based at Axis Sports Medicine Specialists and the HPSNZ Training Centre.

He is also a Senior Lecturer at the University of Auckland, Medical Director for Athletics New Zealand (High Performance) and was one of the doctors with the NZ team at the 2016 Rio Olympic Games and 2018 Commonwealth Games..

He has previously worked with Hawthorn AFL team, a role which culminated in an AFL (Australian Rules) Premiership in 2013. He has worked for Counties Manukau and the Chiefs, and as a tournament physician at the ASB Classic. .

Dan has active research interests in the areas of injury prevention and cardiac screening of athletes. He is a reviewer for Heart journal. Dan is also interested in physician-performed ultrasound.

Duncan Reid

Duncan is Professor of Physiotherapy and Associate Dean of Health, Faculty of Health and Environmental; Science, Auckland University of Technology.

Duncan has had 37 years of clinical experience in Musculoskeletal and Sports Physiotherapy. .

His main areas of interest are Sports Injury Incidence, Prevention and Movement Screening He is a Fellow of the New Zealand College of Physiotherapy and a life member of NZMPA and Physiotherapy NZ..

Duncan's experience in Sports Physiotherapy is also extensive. He has been a member of the Olympic and Commonwealth Games Medical team from 1988 until the Sydney Olympics in 2000 and was Chief Physiotherapist for the 1992, 1994 and 1996 Games. Duncan is the Physiotherapy Advisor for High Performance Sport NZ. .

He has over 200 peer review journal and book publications and is on the editorial panel of the journals Musculoskeletal Science and Practice, Manual and Manipulative Therapy and the Journal of Orthopaedic and Sports Physical Therapy.

Dr Mark Fulcher

Mark is a Sport and Exercise Physician at Axis. Since graduating from medical school in 2001 Mark has worked extensively in sports medicine and is especially interested in injury prevention and the treatment of concussion.

He works closely with ACC and is part of their Sports Collaboration Group which recently released the Concussion Service Guidelines for medical providers in NZ..

Mark is the Medical Director at New Zealand Football and is currently the doctor for the All Whites and Football Ferns (New Zealand Women’s Team) joining the latter for their Rio 2016 Olympic Campaign. Mark was formerly the Medical Director of the ITU World Championship Triathlon event and Medical Director at Netball NZ including being the team doctor for the Silver Ferns. He is currently the team doctor for the Northern Mystics netball team and has the position of lead Tournament Physician at the upcoming ASB Classic Men's and Women's Tennis Tournaments..

Mark continues to be involved with Sports Medicine education contributing regularly as a guest speaker/lecturer at universities and sports medicine meetings around the country. He is currently the Editor of the FIFA Football Medicine Diploma..

Mark has a passion for Football and until recently turned out for Waikato FC in the ASB Premiership. His claim to fame is that he is the shortest goalkeeper to ever participate in a FIFA Tournament.

Joe Harawira

Joe is the RugbySmart Manager at New Zealand Rugby. The RugbySmart Injury Prevention Programme was launched in 2001 in response to an increase in serious spinal injuries. It focusses on coach and referee education to engender player behaviour through annual compulsory workshops.

Since inception, RugbySmart has reduced injuries in all targeted injury sites and is recognised as a global leader in sports injury prevention. In 2016, Joe Harawira was appointed to lead the expansion of RugbySmart to target specific areas including concussion, first aid, players, warm-up and off-field behaviour. Each year, the programme has the potential to reach 10,000 coaches, 2,000 referees, 157,000 players, 20,000 volunteers and health care professionals across New Zealand. “To keep players safe both on and off the field”

Dr Simon Baker

Simon is a Sport and Exercise Medicine Registrar and joined the Axis team in 2016. Simon Graduated from the Otago School of Medicine in 2002. He spent his initial years working in Emergency Medicine whilst travelling throughout Australia, Asia and Europe.

Simon returned to NZ in 2006 where he undertook General Practice training. He has been a Fellow of the Royal College of General Practitioners and consulted for 7 years out of a large family-based practice in Orewa. During this time, he became a Registrar teacher for the college and was involved with the training of young up and coming GPs. Simon completed his post-graduate diploma in Sports Medicine in 2014. To further pursue his interest in this area he made the career change to join the team at Axis as a Registrar. He has been the Team doctor for the Counties Manukau Steelers, the medical lead for the NZ team at the Buenos Aires Youth Olympic Games in 2018, and he is also currently the Medical Director for the New Zealand Men’s Blacksticks

Kylie Wilson

Kylie Wilson is currently Head of Performance Psychology at HPSNZ and NZOC. Gaining an undergraduate sport science degree at Otago University, she went on to complete a PhD in Sport Psychology at University of Wales, Bangor, UK.

During her 12 years in the UK, she worked as a Chartered Psychologist, supporting various athletes and coaches, including British Gymnastics, Welsh Football Association and Welsh Rugby Union. Kylie returned home to New Zealand in 2010 to take a role as a mental skills consultant with North Island Academy of Sport (now HPSNZ) and has supported Netball NZ, Blacksticks Men, Yachting NZ, Canoe Slalom New Zealand and various elite athletes. She’s represented Wales in Rugby Union, coached at an elite level and provided psychology support for the New Zealand U20 Rugby Team and is currently consulting to the Blues Super Rugby Team. She is also a mother to Ethan (5) and Ada (3) and wife to Rudi and loves spending time on and in the water.