Rowing New Zealand losing more young talent overseas

He thinks an increase of funding towards Rowing New Zealand's program would make the pathway more appealing to departing athletes.

Rowing New Zealand recently got rid of the Regional Performance Centre (RPC) program which would help transition promising high school rowers into the high-performance pathway.

"Without the RPC program, you are left to fend for yourself, pay for your own gym membership and pay for club fees, but if you go to the States everything is paid for. That's the line between rowing here and over there."

Miller said while Rowing New Zealand was making a new program designed to help Kiwis studying abroad get back into the pathway, it was still hard to make the transition.

"It's hard to keep in contact by sending through your erg [rowing machine] scores, the water time is different over there and it's difficult to see how well you're doing compared to the athletes in NZ."

Chairman of the Canterbury Rowing Association, Justin Wall, said Rowing New Zealand's opinion had changed to take into consideration people may opt out of the pathway. The new program is designed to allow athletes to compete abroad to develop their skills and come back to the Elite pathway after Rowing NZ began noticing a lack in-depth to the team.

The new National Pathway Program is designed to support and follow the needs of their athletes whether it be supporting them in their studies overseas, or simply assisting them if an athlete is changing cities due to work, Rowing New Zealand will help young rowers to keep them on the high-performance pathway.

While Kiwi universities are also offering athletes scholarships for tertiary study, Wall said it was inevitable athletes want to choose the better option. 

"We don't see America as a threat to the program, but a place where athletes can go to be further developed," Wall said.

"If Rowing New Zealand is going to put in procedures to the pathway that keep children in NZ then Rowing New Zealand needs to look in the mirror and ask themselves whether they are keeping people in NZ for the benefit of them or the athlete."