We are pleased to announce the appointment of Gary Gillard as the New Zealand Secondary Schools Cue Sports Development Coordinator. Gary has played an instrumental role in cue sports being a sporting option for New Zealand secondary school students, which he started by first getting the sport accredited to be played in schools. After setting up the cue sports program and relevant structures, Gary then singlehandedly ran the national competition for several years at his own cost.
Two years ago, and in need of a much-deserved break, Gary handed over the reigns to Massé. In that time, we have made several changes to the sport to make it more accessible and to bring it into line with the traditional structures of competitive school sport in New Zealand. With these changes came large growth, to the point where last year there were around 200 students that wanted to play the sport but couldn’t due to the lack of available coaches. With our inhouse coordinator Logan leaving to go overseas at the end of 2019, our assessment of the school’s program and its needs pointed to only one person who could fill the role and its increasing demands, and that was Gary.
When it comes to cue sports, along with being an accomplished player who has represented New Zealand numerous times, Gary is one of a handful of people in the world who holds the cue sports qualifications that he does. As well as being a Certified International Billiards and Snooker Federation (IBSF) Master Coach, he is also an IBSF Certified Coaching Examiner and is a qualified World Snooker Coach under the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association. These qualifications see Gary in demand around the world, so we are extremely lucky to have him back involved in the secondary school cue sports program, as are those students that will represent their school in cue sports this year.
The cue sports season in secondary schools starts in term 2 and runs through to tournament week in term 3, so stayed tuned for more details on that. We’ll also soon be advertising for Regional Coaching Coordinators to help ensure that no student misses out on playing what we think is the greatest sport in the world!
