Hamish Meacheam says coaching Para athletes made him not only a better coach but a better person.

The community manager at Athletics New Zealand has been coaching Para athletes for the past 10 years with great success. He says good coaching is simply problem solving with your athlete.  

“Coaching Para athletes is challenging, but ultimately really rewarding,” says Meacheam, who was born and raised in the Hawke’s Bay.  

“It actually makes you a better coach because you can't just take what you've learned in your coaching 101 course, you actually have to adapt what you're doing.  

“You have to put some thought into it and think around the problems.”

Meacheam, a former elite middle-long distance runner himself, encouraged others to be brave and put their hands up to support the Para sport pathway in New Zealand.

“Don't shy away from it. Just get stuck in,” he says. “I definitely encourage anyone to get involved if they have the opportunity to work with a Para athlete.” 

Paralympics New Zealand, with the support of ACC, has recently launched LevelUp.

It is a new series of online modules for sports coaches. The modules are designed to help coaches gain the skills and confidence to coach disabled athletes.

The free-to-use resources have been designed with coaches to make sure they are fit for purpose.

They cover topics such as “What is Para sport?”, terminology, classification and coaching considerations for a wide range of impairments – from limb deficiencies to intellectual impairment.

The material complements existing coach development resources provided by national sport organisations.

Meacheam says in his work for Athletics New Zealand, they want every athletics coach in the country to be open to the idea of coaching a Para athlete.

“This LevelUp toolkit is a great initiative from ACC and Paralympics New Zealand,” says Meacheam.

“It is an important piece of that puzzle,” says Meacheam, “Because not every coach can get along to an in-person course. We've got some experts like Raylene Bates, and John Eden, and they're great.  

“We don't want 20 new Para coaches, we want 200 new Para coaches, so the fact that the course is online, you can access it in your own time, from your own home, is really fantastic.” 

Meacheam first got into Para coaching in Palmerston North. He came home from an athletics scholarship in Texas and approached local legend George McConachy who became his mentor.

“I thought he was going to hook me up with a nice group of talented middle-distance runners or something. But instead, he threw me in the deep end and had me coaching Run Jump Throw for the three, four and five-year-olds at the club,” he laughs.

“Which is not what I wanted to do, but it ended up being like a great basis for coaching.” 

From there he coached Ashley Exeter a talented F44, single-leg amputee thrower from Dannevirke, who in 2015 ranked 4th in the world for the discus, and 5th in the shot put.

He then became the CEO of Disability Sport Auckland where he widened his knowledge base around different impairment types.

Para athlete Mitch Joynt, left, Para coach Hamish Meacheam and former Para athlete Keegan Pitcher.

Meacheam now coaches around a dozen athletes, with around half of them Para athletes.

One of his Para athletes Mitch Joynt had a World Para Athletics Championships to remember in July.

The 28-year-old broke an Oceania record with a time of 23.32 to finish third in the 200m (T64).

Joynt secured a top four spot which guarantees a slot for New Zealand in this event at the Paris 2024 Paralympics.

Meacheam says seeing his athletes excel on the world stage is a great experience, but the real rewards come in connecting with people.

“It's lovely seeing the wins at big events, but it's the icing on the cake,” he says.

“The real reward is getting to walk out of my office and finish each day with a little bit of coaching, and being able to spend time with my crew of men and women who are talented and hard working.

“The process of coaching and spending time with young, motivated, enthusiastic people, I find that rewarding.”

Meacheam sees first-hand the power of sport as a rehabilitation tool.  

Many Para athletes he has worked with have overcome a moment of adversity in their life and getting back into sport gives them hope.

“I think having something to focus on besides yourself, is, is really positive for any young people,” he says.  

“But particularly for someone who's been through adversity, by that process of setting some goals, committing to something and following it through by being consistent, being persistent.

“And then if you do all those things, you usually do get the payoff in that process and it’s invaluable.

“It’s great for any person, but if you've been through some adversity in your life, it's especially fantastic.”

What is LevelUp?

• LevelUp is a series of online modules for coaching disabled athletes no matter whether you are just starting out or want to grow your skills.
• It is a free and accessible training course for coaches. It’s available on the Sport NZ learning platform, Sport Tutor. That means you can learn in your own time, at your own pace.
• LevelUp resources are made up of nine modules. Once you complete the first 2 modules, it will unlock seven additional impairment specific modules.
• Coach development: LevelUp - Paralympics New Zealand