N.Z. coach has fine record

Press, 25 February 1988, Page 32

N.Z. coach has fine record

The New Zealand Olympic bobsleigh team would be pushed to find another coach with the credentials of Mr Dave Broomfield. Biathlon (target shooting and cross-country ski-ing), bobsledding, canoeing and orienteering. Mr Broomfield has done the lot. Formerly in the British Army, Mr Broomfield, aged 44, has been living in Edmonton, Canada, since 1975. He was the British brakeman champion when with the British bobsleigh team, was in

the Army biathlon team and trained, coached and competed with the minor (Army) units in orienteering and canoeing. Mr Broomfield has also won the Western Canadian over-40 biathlon championships. He is director of coaching for bobsleigh in Alberta and is a training officer with the rank of lieutenant in the Militia, the South Alberta light horse, running their training programmes. He is employed by the fire department in Edmonton and is very

grateful that his employers have allowed him to spend so much time with the New Zealand bobsledders. “They have supported me 100 per cent and bent the rules to give me time off,” he said yesterday. “Two and a half months in Europe and three weeks with pay to come down for the Olympics.” Getting paid has been important because Mr Broomfield’s wife was recently out on strike with the nurses.

The bobsleigh coach still competes in biath-

lons and drives a sled down the Canada Olympic Park track now and then “for the fun of it.” “It is good for coaching,” Mr Broomfield said. “It shows the guys you haven’t lost your nerve. Bobsledding is a sport where you have to earn respect.” Also recruited for the New Zealand team’s Olympic campaign were Dr Murray Smith, a sports psychologist from the University of Alberta, and, as trainer, Ted Herbert, the fitness director of the Calgary Police Department.