New Years honors 2021: athletes recognized on the honors list

A wide range of athletes have been recognized on the 2021 New Year honors list.

Mrs. Deborah (Debbie) Ann Hockley

New Zealand Order of Merit Companion for Cricket Services

Almost 20 years after the day of her biggest win in a long and successful cricket career, the great Debbie Hockley of White Ferns continues to strive to make the women’s game as strong as ever in New Zealand.

Hockley was first named a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit at the 1999 New Years honors before helping lead the White Ferns to victory in the 2000 World Cup final, the only title in World Cup cricket.

Hockley, who has been president of New Zealand Cricket since 2016, having been the first woman elected to this position in the organization’s 122-year history, said the latest honor came as a surprise.

“I was really stunned. I got an email from the Honors unit and I must admit I thought someone was possibly playing a prank on me,” Hockley told NZME.

Hockley had an international cricket career representing New Zealand between 1979 and 2000. He retired from playing after the 2000 World Cup, having accumulated 1301 runs, including four centuries in 19 test matches. She played in 118 one-day internationals and was the captain of 27, including six test matches.

In 2013 she became the fourth woman and the first New Zealand woman to be inducted into the ICC Hall of Fame.

Reflecting on his career, the win over Australia at Bert Sutcliffe Oval was a highlight after coming so close to claiming the World Cup in previous years.

“I knew that that tournament would be my last … having attended four previous World Cups and been part of a successful team that had reached two finals that we had sadly lost, winning that World Cup final at Lincoln College. it was certainly the climax of what “I had spent a long time trying to get my hands on that joyous trophy,” said Hockley.

Since retiring, Hockley has been a strong supporter of women’s cricket. She contributed to a major New Zealand Cricket review in 2015 on the state of women’s cricket nationwide.

As a result of the review, New Zealand Cricket has significantly increased the number of women represented on its national and provincial boards and has successfully promoted a cricket program that encourages school-age girls to participate in a friendly, fun and free environment. pressures.

“I think especially in the last few years New Zealand Cricket has really come to terms with seeing if we can probably rectify some years where maybe we weren’t paying as much attention to females in cricket. I’m really delighted with that one.

“We have a good way to go, but the fact that we recognize the fact that we need to put more resources into the girls and women who play cricket, I’m delighted with that. We want cricket to be a game for all new Los Zenians especially, we want to encourage a lot more girls and women to play. I can’t help but be an advocate for that considering I had so many opportunities for myself. “

Mr. Albert Archibald (Arch) Jelley

Fellow of the New Zealand Order of Merit for athletic services and the game of bridge

The 98-year-old’s vast list of accomplishments includes coaching Sir John Walker for his gold medal win at the 1976 Montreal Olympics. Forty years later, Jelley again made his presence felt at the Olympic level, as 1500 meter runner Hamish Carson qualified for the Rio Games under his tutelage. At the time, Jelley was the oldest senior coach in New Zealand sport at 94 years old.

Jelley says Walker’s Olympic gold was a career highlight, but known as a quiet trainer, he said the liveliest thing he got during a race was the famous 1974 battle between Walker and the great filbert Bayi of Tanzania in the Christchurch Commonwealth Games. Bayi beat Walker in the 1500m final and both runners broke the world record.

“My brother told me it was the only time he had ever seen me excited at the end of a race. After the race, I was looking at my watch, I got up from my seat and yelled ‘it’s a world record’. Unlike me.” he told NZME.

Twenty of the athletes he coached represented New Zealand, with twelve competing in the Olympics or World Championships. Between 1976 and 1993 he was appointed coach or manager of twelve teams from New Zealand or Oceania, including three teams from the Olympic Games. Outside of athletics, he has been involved with the Mt Albert Bridge Club and New Zealand Bridge, where he has been a bridge tutor since 1996 and was president from 2003 to 2013.

“It is a great honor for me and my family. But also a tribute to the dozens and dozens of amateur coaches throughout New Zealand. Without amateur coaches, most sports would perish,” Jelley said.

Mr. Burton Ross Shipley

Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit for his services to basketball

Shipley is widely regarded for his administrative work both domestically and in the international game of basketball. He chaired the New Zealand National Basketball League from 1999 to 2004 and the New Zealand Breakers from 2005 to 2010. He joined the Oceania Basketball Board as an advisor in 2010 and was elected president in 2013, recently being re-elected in 2019.

He is the only New Zealander who sits on the Executive Committee of the International Basketball Federation (FIBA). He has been vice president of the International Basketball Foundation, which uses basketball as a vehicle for social change around the world. Shipley presided over the 2019 Basketball World Cup tournament hosted by China and was subsequently appointed Vice President of FIBA.

Mrs. Kendra Margaret Cocksedge

Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit for his services to rugby

Cocksedge has pioneered women’s rugby and in 2018 was the first woman to win New Zealand Rugby’s highest accolade, the Kelvin R Tremain Memorial Player of the Year. The Black Ferns running back has played in more than 50 events, having made his test debut in 2007, and is the second Black Fern with the most caps.

She is a two-time World Cup winner as a member of the successful campaigns of 2010 and 2017. She was named World Rugby Player of the Year and New Zealand Rugby Player of the Year in 2015.

Cocksedge has also represented New Zealand in rugby seven, playing in three tournaments for the Black Ferns Sevens and was part of the team that won the Women’s World Series of Sevens in 2013. Nationally, she has played for the Canterbury team Farah Palmer Cup since 2007 and was the first player in the competition to exceed 1000 points.

Cocksedge told NZME that he thought the initial email informing him of the honor was spam.

“It is a great and very special honor,” he said. “It’s amazing to reflect on what I’ve accomplished in my career. I never thought I’d achieve what I’ve accomplished and something like this is the icing on the cake.”

Mr. William Trubridge

Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit for freediving services

Trubridge holds multiple freediving world records and in 2005 he became the first freediver to dive Dean’s Blue Hole in the Bahamas. There he broke his first world record in the discipline of CNF (Constant Weight No Fins) in 2007, diving to 81 meters. In 2010, he became the first human to descend 100 meters without assistance and in 2016 he advanced this record to 102 meters, which is still held today. He also set the world record in free diving in 2016 with 124 meters.

He founded Vertical Blue, which is both the most prestigious annual freediving competition and freediving school in the Bahamas, of which he is the course director. He has advanced in the development of the sport at an international level through school and events. In 2011 and 2012 he received the World’s Absolute Freediver Award. In 2019, Trubridge completed an ‘underwater crossing’ of the Cook Strait as a series of 934 freediving dives.