Athletics New Zealand has announced the appointment of Scott Goodman as the sport’s new Performance Director.

Goodman was based at the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) in Canberra from 1990 through to 2010 in roles with the Australian Coaching Council, the Australian Sports Commission, the Australian Paralympic Committee and Athletics Australia.

From 2001 through to 2010 he was working for the AIS Athletics Programme in the dual roles of Manager and Head Coach of Athletics Australia's Paralympic Preparation Programme (AA-PPP). From 1998 through to 2000 he was the Athletics High Performance Manager for the Australian Paralympic Committee leading into the 2000 Sydney Paralympic Games. He has driven the development of the AA-PPP from inception to a stage where it is now widely recognised as the "best in the Western World". He is currently a sports consultant based at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology.

Goodman's experience to international level in coaching and team management stretches nearly 20 years, notably coaching dual Commonwealth Games Hammer Gold Medallist and Olympian, Stuart Rendell. He also coached a number of Paralympic medallists. He currently coaches Australia's National Hammer Champion and 2010 Delhi Commonwealth Games representative, Tim Driesen. He was also a manager with the athletics section of the Australian teams to the 2006 Melbourne Commonwealth Games and the 2010 Delhi Commonwealth Games.

Goodman joins Athletics New Zealand at a time when the sport's high performance programme is better resourced than ever before by SPARC. His initial focus will be to maintain the current performance programme through to London 2012 and then undertake a full programme review as the sport looks to refine its processes and support for 2016 and beyond.

Goodman's appointment is the result of an extensive international recruitment process. He will take up the Performance Director position on June 7th.