As manager of Academy Southland, Jason McKenzie works daily with young athletes trying to make it onto the world stage from Southland. 

And he is living proof that geography is no barrier to success.

McKenzie will be part of the New Zealand Olympic staff in Tokyo, working as part of a team providing psychological support before, during and after the Games.

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It's a vital role, and one McKenzie is proud to have been selected for as a Southlander.

"I haven't gone anywhere else and that's testament to the support, the initiatives and the facilities we have right here in Southland, like ILT Stadium and the Mike Piper Training Centre," he said. 

"Our community funders like ILT (Invercargill Licensing Trust), ILT Foundation and Community Trust South provide opportunities for Southlanders to take on the world and I certainly hope we will have some athletes from our Academy Southland programme at the Games as well so it will be pretty special to link with them."

A collaborative approach from Sport NZ, HPSNZ and the NZOC has been designed to support athletes in a wellbeing and mental skills capacity that will see the Southlander immersed across many aspects of New Zealand's campaigns for the summer Olympics in Tokyo, the winter Olympics in Bejing and the Birmingham Commonwealth Games.

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"That's a reflection of the need to navigate these challenging times," he said.

"It's a wellbeing approach with a mental skills flavor to it. Athletes will be supported wider than the Games experience. Given what's happening with the world, it's becoming more important because there are so many more unknowns."

McKenzie has extensive experience working across an array of sporting codes from his time leading the SBS Bank Academy Southland and working with netball, rugby and referees.

He has also previously provided psychological support at the Youth Olympic level and will be tasked with helping to create a performance-focused environment, including crisis management, counselling, proactive and reactive work.

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Since being appointed, McKenzie has connected with athletes around the globe who have been dealing with significant disruptions to their sport – everywhere from Uzbekistan to the US, Australia and Europe.

"Our kiwi athletes are spread all over the world. For them it has been about having to process challenges which have emerged and the uncertainty of what it means for their sport and their careers," he said.

"Long list athletes face different pressures from those in the more traditional codes. The public expectations are often not as high but the expectations on themselves are because they have committed four years (and often more) in every aspect of their lives to this. 

"For athletes outside the funded system, they have battled for the past year because they have had to put their lives on hold again when the Games were postponed."

McKenzie wasn't fazed by the challenges looming. In fact, quite the opposite.

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"I'm excited about the opportunity to be at a different Games. It’s going to be cool. Yes, it's going to be massively restricted but who has ever done something like this before? I love that unknown.

"We're going to have to be super adaptable and I’m excited to see how we react as human beings in that environment, how I react, how our psychology team reacts, how the athletes react – it's an opportunity in many ways to test the work we do in the psyche space."

McKenzie believed the wellbeing approach was as important as the performance aspect.

"It's recognising you can’t have the performance without the person. If that person is in a good space, then the performance will take care of itself. If they aren't feeling good about themselves, the performance will absolutely be impacted.

"It's respecting they’re a person, not just an athlete."

NZOC had earned a reputation for creating environments which provided a competitive advantage.

"We’re already talking about how, within the safety of our Olympic bubble, we can create an environment which makes New Zealand special."