Coaches

Jonathan Black

Jonathan is a Senior Coach with Phoenix and has principle responsibility for senior athletes (ages 15 and up). A sprint hurdler when he was younger he has over 10 years coaching experience in both Wellington and Christchurch, primarily at the developmental and elite developmental level. While Jonathan coaches across all three athletics event groups of run, jump and throw he specialises in sprints and hurdles, followed by horizontal jumps. Jonathan is involved in delivering coach education to new Canterbury coaches and alongside a Masters degree in Psychology he is currently completing a Graduate Diploma in Exercise Science. He has been a coach with a number of Athletics New Zealand representative teams including Sprints and Relays Coach for the 2015 Oceania Games (Cairns, Australia), Team Coach for the 2015 IPC World Championships (Doha, Qatar), and Team Coach for the NZ 2016 Rio Paralympic campaign. 

Judy MacDonald

Judy is Director of Coaching for the Phoenix Athletic Club as well as Head Coach for the Junior squad (under 15) and high jump coach for all ages. As a promising child athlete across all disciplines whose career was cut short for family reasons, a huge part of her coaching philosophy is based on all athletes being given every opportunity to succeed no matter what their family or social situation. Returning to compete in veteran athletics as an adult competitive endeavours were soon put to one side to focus on coaching children’s athletics where there was a large gap to be filled.
 
Judy is a contributor to the Athletics New Zealand Run Jump Throw manual and has also coached several athletes to international team standard – World Youth, Youth Commonwealth and Oceania Championships. Over the last 25 years she has coached multiple National and Canterbury Champions at club and school level and record holders across a variety of events and high jumpers for ANZ high performance athletes. She has also acted as team manager across a huge variety of athletic teams from school to provincial level.

Tom Maslin

Tom is a Senior Coach and Athlete with Phoenix, assisting Jonathan with athletes transitioning from Juniors (Judy's squad, 14 and under) to Seniors (Jonathan's squad, 15 and over).  Tom is primarily a long jumper, but also competes in triple jump and pole vault.  He has competed in athletics regionally, nationally and internationally, and has earned two international medals in long jump (u20 Bronze at the South Pasadena Tiger Invitational in USA 2015, u20 Gold at the DownUnder in Australia 2016).

Tom has been assisting Judy at junior trainings and competitions for the past 3 years, and now assists Jonathan by conducting strength and conditioning, for the younger senior squad athletes.  Tom also assists at Junior trainings and competitions, specialising in long jump but also coaching sprints at a junior level.  Tom is currently studying a Bachelor of Engineering with honours at the University of Canterbury.

Jamie Bennett

A member of the Phoenix Club since 2011, Jamie firmly believes in Competing for personal achievement and goal setting, striving against oneself and participative learning-Whilst having Fun!

Jamie assists with the coaching of both junior & senior members of the Phoenix club, primarily throws focused, particularly javelin.  As a teenage track and field athlete he was a member of the Southland Development Squad, highlights include obtaining a Gold medal in Pole Vault at the New Zealand Athletic Championships in 1992 and Bronze in 1993.
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His greatest satisfaction however has been in the more recent years seeing his athletes continuously developing, enjoying their chosen events & improving their personal performances through skill application.
 

Robbie Richards

Robbie is a Junior coach at Phoenix Athletic Club assisting Judy with the coaching of all athletes 15 and under.  Robbie has a background in education, Biology and Animal Physiology. He has coached team sports for eighteen years at secondary school level. He is focussed on using sport as a vehicle for developing the athlete toward being a valued member of society and using measured performance as a gauge of hard work and personal improvement.

Robbie came to the club when his daughters joined three years ago. His primary rewards are seeing athletes working at developing their areas of strength be they on track or in the field, particularly when these result in an Athletics New Zealand National Ranking. He also enjoys both the positive atmosphere within the club and working with the club’s exceptionally well-motivated athletes.