21/12/2025 – ILT Academy Southland marked 20 years of supporting Southland’s top young athletes at a special function held in Invercargill this afternoon (December 21).

First piloted in 2005, the Academy has supported more than 250 sportspeople across a wide variety of sports over the past two decades, helping them to achieve their goals both inside and outside the white lines of their chosen codes.

Academy programme manager Jason McKenzie said the 20 year celebration had provided the ideal time to reflect on the evolution of the programme, the impact it has had and the innovative thinking by the likes of Kereyn Smith and the late Mike Piper, who were instrumental in its establishment.

Mike’s wife Joy was a special guest at today’s function, along with more than 30 Academy graduates and their families.

“These 20 years are Mike’s legacy. Thank you Mike – I hope we have made you proud,” McKenzie said.

“We provide a programme that we know from research makes a short and long term difference to athletes’ performance and grows them as people.

“They are grounded in Southland values of humbleness, work ethic and passion. They are challenged to be better everyday and they learn the skills to use in performance when it matters most.”

Academy Southland has helped support Southlanders to achieve their sporting dreams, including 10 Olympians, 30 Commonwealth Games athletes and many national and world champions.

Double Olympic gold medallist Alena Saili and silver medallists Eddie Dawkins and Nicole Shields were in attendance, along with Paralympic bronze medallist Jess Hamill.

Saili, Dawkins and WorldTour cyclist Corbin Strong formed a guest panel as part of the celebrations.

While sporting success was an important driver for the programme, seeing Southlanders achieving in a range of fields was just as important.

“We develop young Southland athletes to excel at the highest level in life as well – Harvard, Duke, Princeton, Oxford and a Rhodes Scholar,” McKenzie said.

McKenzie thanked the athletes who have taken part, their coaches and their families, along with the Academy’s board, sponsors, funders and wider community who had supported the programme.

As part of the celebrations, video interviews with past Academy athletes has been captured and is being published on the programme’s social media accounts.

Something that had come through strongly while connecting with past athletes was the sense of pride they felt in representing their community on the national and international stage, McKenzie said.

“It has been a hell of a ride and, while we are here to celebrate our 20 year milestone, I feel like we have only just begun.”