Term 4

16 October 2025

“Stronger Teams, Resilient Leaders, Inspired Schools - What Sport Can Teach Us"

In collaboration with Performance Wellbeing, Connecting School Leaders are proud to bring you a powerful panel discussion featuring:

Anna Simcic, Olympian and Performance Life Coach

John Quinn, Elite Mental Skills Coach

Brad Mooar, Professional Rugby Coach

Dame Sophie Pascoe, New Zealand's Most Decorated Paralympian

Thursday, 16 October 2025

3:45 pm – Networking Reception (Drinks and nibbles)
4:15 pm – Panel Discussion

Location: Tūora Fendalton School Hall

Cost: Exceptional value at just $40 per person

What if building a high-performing school was just like coaching an elite sports team?

Success in both education and sports comes down to the same core principles: resilience, teamwork, and strong leadership. We're excited to bring these principles to life in a unique event for Canterbury educators.

Join us for an energising twilight session where we'll explore how high-performance strategies from the sporting world can be adapted to strengthen our schools. We'll dive into building a culture of recognition, turning setbacks into "game plans," and fostering the resilience needed to succeed.

We're proud to announce that this dynamic event is being developed in partnership with Anna Simcic and John Quinn from Performance Wellbeing, two incredible voices who know what it takes to perform under pressure and lead with purpose.

What you will discover: 3 Key Takeaways

Prepare to gain actionable insights that will transform your approach to leadership and wellbeing. Here are three core principles that will be explored:

Aligning Leadership: Discover how the core principles of resilience and teamwork from high-performance sports directly apply to the realities of educational leadership.
Practical Strategies: Walk away with concrete examples of mental skills and strategies you can adapt to build a more resilient and cohesive school environment.
Personal and Professional Growth: Leave inspired to take a proactive approach to your own development, equipping yourself to lead your team through any challenge.

Together, our speakers will share winning strategies and real-world stories packed with practical takeaways you can put into practice the very next day.

Anna Simcic

Facilitator

Anna is a former Olympian who represented New Zealand at two Olympic Games and the Commonwealth Games, winning a gold and two silver medals. She was ranked in the top 10 worldwide during her swimming career, with a notable achievement of setting a world short-course record in 1992.

Now a Performance Life Coach with HPSNZ and a mother of three, Anna is passionate about wellbeing and helping others realise their potential. She uses a values and strengths-based approach, bringing energy, compassion, and humour to her work.

Panellists

John Quinn

John is a highly sought-after mental skills coach with over 20 years of experience working with individuals and teams across New Zealand and internationally. His expertise in resilience, teamwork, mental skills and mindset has been instrumental across high-performance sport, government, education and business sectors.

John has built strong partnerships with leading organisations such as Rugby NZ, NZ Athletics, the Crusaders, NZ Cricket, Kubota Spears Rugby, Sydney Roosters Rugby League, and High Performance Sport New Zealand (HPSNZ). He has supported many athletes in performing and medalling at pinnacle events, including Tom Walsh, Emma Twigg, Dame Val Adams, William Stedman, Eliza McCartney and Nat Rooney.

Passionate about mindset and empowering people to achieve extraordinary results, John balances his professional success with his role as a husband to Leeann and a proud father of two.

Dame Sophie Pascoe

The standard-bearer for Para sport in New Zealand, Dame Sophie Pascoe, is a national treasure. She is an eleven-time Paralympic gold medallist and multiple World Champion in Para swimming. At the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games, Dame Sophie won four medals, taking her total tally to 19 Paralympic medals. This made Dame Sophie the most decorated and successful New Zealand Paralympian ever.

A below-the-knee amputee following a lawnmower accident aged two, Dame Sophie first revealed her future ability competing at the CCS Independence Games when Paralympians Roly Crichton and Graham Condon were impressed by her potential and asked her to join the QEII Swim Club.

From there, the Kiwi star made rapid progress, bagging a bronze medal on her international debut aged just 13 at the IPC Swimming World Championships in South Africa. It was this performance which “fast-forwarded” her career, and just two years later she surprised many to truly emerge on the international stage by winning three golds and one silver medal at the Beijing 2008 Paralympic Games and set a world record in 100m backstroke.

Dame Sophie continued her dominance at the London 2012 Paralympic Games, where she won three gold and three silver medals during an incredibly packed competition schedule. She added to her Paralympic titles at Rio 2016, earning three gold and two silver medals, with the wins including a world record in the women’s 200m individual medley.

In 2018 Dame Sophie had the honour of being selected as the flag-bearer for the New Zealand Commonwealth Games team on the Gold Coast, the first ever NZ Para athlete to lead the team. Dame Sophie went on to win two gold medals in the pool. It was her second Commonwealth Games, following Glasgow 2014 where she won two gold medals. Dame Sophie was also a member of the NZ team at the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games, winning gold in the 100m freestyle.

Dame Sophie’s legacy continued to grow at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games, where she completed a famous four-peat by claiming her fourth consecutive gold medal in the women’s 200m individual medley S9. She claimed further medals in Tokyo with gold in the women’s 100m freestyle S9, silver in the women’s 100m breaststroke SB8 and bronze in the women’s 100m backstroke S9.

Dame Sophie was also named as Hāpai Kara (team captain) of the New Zealand Paralympic team at Tokyo 2020, a fitting acknowledgement of the leadership and inspiration Sophie provides to her fellow Paralympians and Para athletes.

Dame Sophie was coached by Roly Crichton from 2002 to September 2021, then by Brett Naylor from November 2021 until announcing her retirement from competitive swimming in February 2025.

Sophie was appointed a Dame in the 2022 New Year’s Honours for her services to swimming. She was the youngest person at the time to be awarded the title.

Outside of sport, Dame Sophie and her husband Rob welcomed their son in early 2024, embracing the new chapter of parenthood. She is also a dedicated advocate for the Paralympic movement and for equality, regularly sharing her story across New Zealand to inspire others to pursue their dreams.

Brad Mooar

Brad Mooar is a highly respected rugby coach whose career spans New Zealand and the northern hemisphere. Known for his strategic vision, positive approach, and ability to empower players, Brad has built a reputation for resilience, innovation, and creating high-performance environments.

A born-and-bred Cantabrian, Brad initially forged a career as a solicitor before discovering his true calling in rugby coaching. He began at the Christchurch Rugby Club, quickly establishing his expertise in attack and kicking play. His coaching journey took him overseas in 2012, guiding the Eastern Province Kings in South Africa to a Currie Cup Division 1 title and later serving as Assistant Coach for the Southern Kings Super Rugby team. He returned to New Zealand to lead Southland in the NPC for the 2014 and 2015 seasons, cementing his reputation as a coach who develops both players and teams.

Brad made a significant mark on the Super Rugby stage as Assistant Coach with the Crusaders from 2016 to 2019, helping the team achieve the first three years of its record-breaking championship run. He then took on the challenge of Head Coach with the Scarlets in Wales, before returning home in 2020 to join the All Blacks as Attack Coach, sharing his expertise on one of rugby’s biggest stages.

Following his tenure with the All Blacks, Brad joined the Scotland coaching team under Gregor Townsend for the 2023 Six Nations and Rugby World Cup campaigns, continuing to apply his tactical insight and player-focused approach. In 2025 he returns to the Crusaders as Assistant Coach for two seasons, overseeing counter-attack, turnover play, and kicking strategy, just 2 kilometres from his family home in Christchurch.

Brad is celebrated not only for his tactical brilliance but also for his ability to nurture players as people, fostering growth, resilience, and a positive team culture. His approach combines precision, inspiration, and care, creating environments where teams can thrive on and off the field.