New Zealand Canoe Polo Association Inc

Executive Director - James Mitchell

James was appointed the NZCPA Executive Director at the end of 2015. James brings a wide range of skills to his current role overseeing the Executive team (who are all volunteers) within our organisation. The Executive Director role acts as the interface between the Board (strategic and governance) and the Executive who are charged with the delivery of the sport.

He is just crazy passionate about all aspects of polo. He has had a long association with the sport in New Zealand and in particular his club Kiwi. James represented NZ at numerous international competitions and also travelled extensively for polo as a player and coach.

NZ Competitions Director 2000-2015
NZ men’s team 2002-2017
Founding member of Central Canoe Polo, misc. positions including President.
Member of Kiwi Canoe Polo Club 1994-onward. Committee member most of that time (and still) and past President.
ICF B referee
International coaching experience: Scandinavia, India and China in recent years. Involved in coaching various club and regional teams for the last 20 years.
Played all his career for Vikings teams winning numerous titles. These days he plays slightly more socially for the Vikings Valhalla team.

James can be contacted on nzcpaexecdirector@gmail.com

Coaching Manager - Jacqui Frost

Jacqui rejoined the executive team as the coaching manager at the end of 2022.

Jacqui has a long association with polo. Both her husband and son either play or have played at an international level. She is a primary school teacher who specialises in developing and delivering resilience programmes and has also worked with a state owned enterprise as a trainer coach. Jacqui is also currently undertaking further education in educational psychology.

Jacqui’s passion is in empowering teams and in developing people. Jacqui wants to ensure our coaches are well resourced and supported at every level of Canoe Polo. Ensuring that we have a nationwide network of coaches that have a culture of learning and development is a key component of this.

Jacqui can be contacted on nzcpacoaching@gmail.com

Communications Manager - Kat Graham

Kat has been our communications manager since 2018. Her role includes updating the NZCPA and Paddle Blacks websites, running the NZCPA and NZ Squads social media, managing our live streaming council, creating the annual report, organising tour surveys, managing newsletters and has pushed for and organised our new website.

Kat has two part time jobs and two young children, she prides herself on her organisation skills. Canoe Polo plays a large role in Kats life, supporting her husband Jed at national competitions. Kat has never played Canoe Polo, instead prefers to watch and socialise from the side lines.

Kat can be contacted on nzcpacomms@gmail.com

Competitions Manager - Craig Irwin

Criag joined the executive team August 2024.

Craig has 3 kids who play canoe polo currently at Intermediate and high school level in Palmerston North (the 2 at high school level also play national league for Manawatu Kiwi).

While he has no real experience in canoe polo, he has been involved in sports all his life on and off the field at grassroots level right up to International level.

Craig has been interested in governance and sports event management for quite a while. He started while on his OE in the UK by running a weekly Touch sports league and eventually working for the England Touch association running their national championships in 2002 - 2005. During this time he was involved in preparing a bid for the 2006 European championships.

Upon returning to NZ he has run weekly touch modules since 2010 in the manawatu and created and run regional events under the banner of my own entity "Grassroots Touch".

He is currently involved with the Touch world cup in England running the referee side of the tournament.

Craig has held many Goverence positions in sports (Soccer, Touch and Rugby League) since 2002 and is currently the Touch New Zealand High Performance Referee director.

He loves problem solving and creating draws, especially ones that can be a challenge to work out.

Craig can be contacted on nzcpacompetitions@gmail.com

Funding Manager - Elizabeth Marama

Elizabeth joined the executive team mid 2024.

Elizabeth is an English high school teacher, based in Palmerston North. She got involved in Canoe Polo when her eldest son started playing way back in 2016 - generally a bystander, although she was part of the Central Women’s Vet team that one time, where she learnt a lot about how canoe polo is a lot more difficult than it seems.

Currently she's the C grade coordinator for Kiwi Canoe Polo Club, having also been the U18b Men’s teams manager for 2023. She is loving the opportunity to give back to the commmunity that's been a part of our lives for so long.

Elizabeth can be contacted on nzcpafunding@gmail.com

Schools Manager - Kelly Walters

Kelly has been our Schools Manager since 2018, she and the Schools council are responsible for running our NZ Schools program.

Kelly has had a long history with Canoe Polo right from playing to now coaching, refereeing and is the Chairperson for Hawke’s Bay Canoe Polo. She has had so many career achievements today but the best so far has to be leading the way to the latest development of the Aquatic Facility at the Mitre 10 Regional Park in Hawke’s Bay.

Kelly is really looking forward to the future of schools canoe polo and is really hoping to see the participation grow in the next few years all over NZ.

Kelly can be contacted on nzcpaschools@gmail.com

Squads Manager - Meryn Hinton

Meryn has been the Squads Manager since 2020. In Meryn’s role she is responsible for overall organisation for our elite squads (SM, SW, U21M, U21W, U18M & U18W) for international competitions such as Oceania, World Games and World Championships. Also organisation of our biannual High Performance Development Camp in conjunction with Coaching & High Performance Managers.

Meryn has been involved in canoe polo administration since 2010 when she co-formed Havelock North Canoe Polo Club at HNHS. Over the years she has also been the U21 women's manager, U21 men’s manager and women’s squad manager on many international tours.

Meryn can be contacted on nzcpasquadsdirector@gmail.com

EXECUTIVE MANAGERS