David Briscoe, the well-known HMB fighter and the National team captain. He led his team to the BotN list for many years, but had to leave this position due to personal circumstances. The New Zealand National HMB Federation (HMBNZ) welcomed Cody Hamilton as new National Team Captain. HMBIA News reporter had an interview with Dayna Berghan-Whyman, the HMBNZ Treasurer and fighter of the National Team of New Zealand, and Cody Hamilton himself. So that is how we managed to find out

According to Dayna Berghan-Whyman, Cody was the next person in line when votes for National Team Captain were done. He has had to learn many things, including how to do online meetings for the first time in his life, but HMBNZ thinks Cody is doing an amazing job!

 “Now that New Zealand is at Alert Level 1 and training is now allowed, HMBNZ held online meetings with all the Club Captains to check on the health and wellbeing of all the clubs and their fighters. All Clubs now know that Cody is the new National Team Captain and that he oversees the Battle of the Nations 2021 New Zealand selection for all categories”, told Dayna.

Cody Hamilton, the new captain of the national team admitted that he was very touched by the trust and the scale of responsibility that he feels after becoming a captain:

“It’s a huge honour and privilege to be voted by my peers to represent New Zealand as National Captain. I thoroughly enjoyed my time as a fighter during previous Battle of the Nations events, and as a regional captain and fighter during past seasons. I feel we are moving in the right direction as a team, both with our buhurt and our team culture.”

Now New Zealand can hold qualifications, the National Team Captain, Cody Hamilton has organised:

– the TEAM qualifying tournament Saturday, 26 September 2020 in Wellington (middle of the country)

– the Duels 1v1 qualifying tournament (that is a big display event at the same time) 13 – 15 November 2020 in Auckland (at the top of the country where most of the population is).

But there is a lot of work ahead. Cody Hamilton told us about all tasks that must be done:

“I work with regional teams and develop the criteria for Battle of the Nations 2021 national selection tournaments. the goal being these selection processes are acceptable by HMBIA and are also appropriate for all fighter categories.

I lead the selection of the fighters to represent the country at the 2021 Battle of the Nations for all categories.

I post regular updates to all fighters about the decisions of the HMBIA General Assembly, new HMBIA and National Organisation decisions, rules, and regulations.

I communicate with national HMB representatives in charge of development of sport – the Women’s Representative, the Asia Pacific Representative, and the Marshall representative.

I oversee organising the trip of New Zealand’s fighters and team support to the 2021 Battle of the Nations. This is a very large responsibility as New Zealand is very far away from Europe and the team holds many fundraising efforts to raise the money required for travel.”

Cody listed very important areas of work for his entire team and we wish him success in achieving his goals, however, there is another aspect of the life of the HMB community in the country where Cody’s personal intervention is necessary:

  “I serve on the national Complaints Committee to resolve conflicts in the HMB community in New Zealand.”

So, let us wish the new Captain victories and success and can’t wait to meet him leading the national team of New Zealand on the lists of the HMB World Championship Battle of the Nations 2021.

HMBIA News