With panoramic views across the playing field, we gathered at the Bay Oval in anticipation of hearing three visionaries in sports performance innovation.

The SPI Forum is a celebration of human endeavour and advancement in sport performance. Each year it explores the emergence of new themes with a focus on the convergence of food nutrition (fuelling the body), equipment design (impact of technology in equipment) and athletic endeavour (physiology and psychology potential) - with distinct perspectives from leading professionals in the world of sports innovation. This year we were privileged to have the incredible elite performances dietician Dane Baker, 4 time world champion extreme kayaker and entrepreneur Sam Sutton, and Mark Henderson, Senior Engineering Director in the Adidas Future team.

The room is full of top talent, including representatives from organisations such as High Performance Sport NZ, Chapter 2 Bikes, Shot Darts, AUT Sport and Recreation and NZ Plant and Food Research. After a while of mingling (providing a great opportunity to brush shoulders with Mark, Sam and Dane), the MC, former Black Cap Peter McGlashan welcomed the room to this years Sports Performance Innovation Forum. Our legendary line-up were set to walk the audience through their personal first-hand perspectives towards the physiology, psychology, food nutrition, and the impact of design and technology on the evolution of sport and performance.

The first speaker featured Dane Baker. Dane has worked extensively with High Performance Sport New Zealand where he is a Senior Performance Nutritionist and has been a lead provider for the Black Ferns 7s, NZ Mens Hockey, NZ Swimming, as well as Chiefs and Blues rugby and the Rio Olympic support team. Dane shared a story about how in professional sport, the smallest of margins can differentiate winner from loser, and how diet can have significant impact. He walked us through innovative research and his experience with Omega-3 Fatty Acids and Anthocyanins.

Sam Sutton immediately had the audience in the palm of his hand, as the 4 time world champion extreme kayaker told gut-wrenching stories of his expeditions. From kayaking past bodies on deadly rivers, to helicopter trips out of the depths of Russia, it became clear why his ‘dominate or die’ mentality has taken him to the top of the extreme kayaking world - four times! After continually coming across things he didn’t like in kayaks, Sam then went on to launch his kayak design company Waka Kayaks, where he used his and other athletes experience and expertise to create the most successful kayak in the extreme circuit. There is plenty to take on board from Sam’s stories.

Finally came Mark Henderson, much anticipated by everyone within the audience. Mark shared his incredible story of how a Tauranga kid went through a series of knock backs and less desirable jobs (such as counting cars in bus lanes in London) to become the Senior Engineering Director in the Adidas Future team in Portland, Oregon. Of particular note, he took us behind the scenes into the mind of the Adidas future team, to share stories of the development of the famous Boost foam shoe, James Harden basketball shoe, their ‘Digital Image Correlation’ technique, the Futurecraft 4D 3D printed footwear and more recently Futurecraft Loop – diving into the innovative ideas that are set to change the industry as we know it.

Welcome to the SPI-2019 Forum. The following 3 part series will take a deep dive into Dane, Sam and Mark’s stories of virtuosity and their presentations during Groundswell Festival.

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