Rico Fisher and Levi Stout have been named SBS Bank Academy Southland’s top athletes for 2022.

Levi Stout. Photo: Supplied

Rico (Southland Boys’ High School) has just completed the Leadership Year of the two-year Academy programme, which aims to support many of Southland’s best young athletes with mental skills, athlete life, nutrition and strength and conditioning.

SBS Bank Academy Southland manager Jason McKenzie said Rico had made the most of the opportunity over the past two years.

“Rico has stood out from the start of the programme with his attitude and his willingness to learn. Athletics was his focus when he first started in the Academy, but since then he has also made impressive strides with his rugby and touch. He’s also provided leadership as a member of the panel which assesses Tū Manawa Active Aotearoa funding applications for Active Southland.”

Rico, who plans to study law at Otago University next year, was the Rugby Southland under 18 Metro player of the year and was recently selected for the New Zealand under 18 mixed touch team which will contest a series against Australia next May.

During his first year (Foundation Year) with the Academy, James Hargest College disc golfer Levi Stout has continued to be one of the leading exponents of this fast-growing sport in New Zealand.

SBS Bank Academy Southland coordinator Carly Anderson said Levi, who is self-coached, had taken the same self-directed approach into the Academy programme.

“He approaches everything with intent and purpose. That’s included working alongside our strength and conditioning coach Josie Frew to develop his own training programme. When Levi first started with the Academy he still thought of himself as a recreational thrower, but now he recognises that he is an athlete in his own right.”

It’s been a significant year for the Academy, McKenzie, who was part of the New Zealand support team at the Birmingham Commonwealth Games, said.

“Along with nutritionist Aimee Hall, we’ve had Josie join the team fulltime as our strength and conditioning coach following Tyson Huia’s departure and we’ve seen most of the pinnacle events for our athletes return after being heavily impacted by the pandemic over the past couple of years,” he said.

“We always strive to put our athletes’ needs first and that’s seen us make some positive changes to the way the programme is run and it was exciting to see a return of our Parents Seminar recently where we took the opportunity to bring in SBS Bank Tour of Southland winner Josh Burnett’s parents, Ginge and Ang.”

Another exciting initiative for the Academy will see it become one of the ‘pilot pods’ for High Performance Sport New Zealand in 2023, providing ongoing local support for selected athletes based in Southland to ensure they continue to have a pathway to higher honours.