Simon Kent

President, Weightlifting NZ | Performance Coach | Navigate Performance | Papatoetoe Olympic Weightlifting Club

[Aditya Singh @_adityasingh20]

"Prioritizing winning does not set a loser mentality."

Wrote something about the daft narrative that's been floating recently that "Ange normalized losing". You can read here:

https://t.co/XmUj4QTkY8

[Simon Kent @Navig8Per4mance]

Season 3…

[Simon Kent @Navig8Per4mance]

Meaningful change takes time. It’s a young squad, they will be better for this experience. If Ange is given the time to see this through, the reward will come.
#THFC #COYS

[Simon Kent @Navig8Per4mance]

“The score reflects a game’s outcome, but the manner of play defines its quality.”
#COYS

[Tom Decent @tomdecent]

Dos doesn't miss...

https://t.co/4kvCKsbMi3

[Simon Kent @Navig8Per4mance]

@MichaelVaughan @kokeeffe49 👀

[Abhishek AB @ABsay_ek]

There’s a particular cruelty in cricket’s numbers when you’re a pace bowler. The sport will worship a quick who can touch 150kph even if his average hovers around 30, but a bowler who runs in with the intensity of a man trying to push a broken-down car uphill? He needs to prove himself in triplicate just to get his kit bag in the dressing room...

Michael Neser has 423 first class wickets at 23 odd average. He also has 4000+ runs at average around 30. Those are allrounder numbers. Yet until last month, Neser’s entire Test career could be summarized in a coffee break: 2 matches, in last 4 years, each appearance feeling like Australia had remembered they had a spare key hidden under the doormat...

Stat sheet doesn’t tell you about the 2010 Shield debut, when a 20 year old Neser dismissed Adam Voges and Shaun Marsh; two batters who’d go on to play Test cricket, whose Test careers would begin after that game & end before Neser got his baggy green. It doesn’t tell you about the countless times he’d be the best bowler in Shield, only to watch the selectors fax in another squad with his name in the “emergency only” column...

“I feared my Test career was over,” Neser admitted last summer, and you could hear the exhaustion in that sentence. Not the dramatic exhaustion of a torn ACL or a stress fracture, but the quiet, grinding fatigue of a man who’d torn his hamstring playing Australia A against India A at the MCG; 12 months on the shelf for a glorified practice match. The kind of injury that happens to players who are always available, always dependable, always one phone call away from being told “we need you to carry drinks and maybe bowl 12 overs in nets if it rains.”

Neser, at 35, became the human equivalent of that reliable sedan in your garage; works perfectly, gets you everywhere, but everyone’s dreaming about the sports car they can’t afford.

And then, the twist. Gabba 2025.
Last minute selection over Nathan Lyon, a decision that had Shane Warne’s ghost reaching for the whiskey. A 35 year old on his home ground, picked ahead of the greatest off-spinner of the modern era. The controversy was delicious. The vindication? Even better.

Neser’s Test progression reads like a man who’s tired of being the backup plan.
1st Test: 2 wickets. 2nd Test: 5. 3rd Test: 6. 4th Test: 4 in the first innings at MCG, each wicket a middle finger to the idea that you need 90mph to succeed in Australia. He has never gone wicketless in an innings. Not once!
In this series where England built their entire philosophy around speed; Wood, Archer, Carse, Atkinson. Neser & Scott Boland have tilted this Ashes by proving that 5 good balls an over beats one thunderbolt followed by four half-volleys...

Depth of Australian fast bowling didn’t just keep Neser out of the side; it forged him into something harder, sharper, more complete. While others were being rested & rotated, he was bowling in Cardiff, batting in Glamorgan, learning to be the player you’d build a team around even if nobody ever did...
You won’t find many pace bowlers with those numbers, in any country, in any era, still waiting for their moment. But then, you won’t find many cricketers like Michael Neser...

He doesn’t need speed. He has got something better: perseverance. And finally, the opportunity.

[Arnold Schwarzenegger @Schwarzenegger]

Everything you learn in the gym applies to life.
-Reps are the only way to get better
-Showing up over and over is the only hack that works
-Losing the fear of failure is the only way to accomplish anything big
-Do a little more every week and tiny wins build into something huge

[Simon Kent @Navig8Per4mance]

@bridgettunni Raelene Castle perhaps…

[Simon Kent @Navig8Per4mance]

https://t.co/VeuI5Guv8N

[Simon Kent @Navig8Per4mance]

It’s the hope that kills you…
#TheAshes

[Simon Kent @Navig8Per4mance]

https://t.co/vnGgPN7A57

[Simon Kent @Navig8Per4mance]

A fantastic night at the Honda NZ CMS Sports Awards, celebrating the outstanding people in our region.

Congratulations to Olivia Selemaia, Sportswoman of the Year & overall Supreme Award winner, and to Isyss Schuster, Junior Sportsman of the Year.

[Simon Kent @Navig8Per4mance]

@SpursOfficial fans, have a read. Cohesion is a key marker for long term success. Meaningful change takes time.
#THFC #Spurs

https://t.co/3YvoL2MDW8

[Simon Kent @Navig8Per4mance]

Coaching

[Simon Kent @Navig8Per4mance]

Meaningful change takes time. It’s a young squad, they will be better for this experience. If Ange is given the time to see this through, the reward will come.
#THFC #COYS

[Lilywhite Rose @Lilywhite_Rose]

Ange Postecoglou launches a passionate defence of his Tottenham Hotspur team after their 2-1 defeat to Aston Villa 🗣️

[Steve Magness @stevemagness]

The longer I coach, the more I’m convinced that it’s mostly about putting people in a place where they can perform out of joy, curiosity, exploring their potential, and taking on a challenge.

Too often we let fear, protecting our self or our ego take over.

[Simon Kent @Navig8Per4mance]

“When life gets tough, some of us feel that we’ve lost the game and life has won. But life isn’t trying to defeat you. Life isn’t even a participant—the game is yours.”
— Mo Gawdat

via the 5-Bullet Friday newsletter (https://t.co/jXKoLumL9d) from @tferriss

[Simon Kent @Navig8Per4mance]

18yr old Olivia Selemaia placing 11th at the @iwfnet 2024 Senior World Championships in Bahrain🇧🇭

Olivia broke 10 NZ records (5 Junior & 5 Senior) and 7 Oceania records (5 Junior & 2 Senior) with a 99kg snatch, 123kg C&J for a 222kg total in the 71kg category🌿🏋🏽‍♂️

[Simon Kent @Navig8Per4mance]

First ever medal at an @iwfnet World Championship event (Senior, Junior & Youth) for a NZ male weightlifting athlete.

Congratulations Numi Tepulolo, bronze in the men’s 109+kg category with a 161kg snatch.

The team showed their appreciation with this inspiring haka.

[Simon Kent @Navig8Per4mance]

Weightlifting New Zealand is committed to playing a role in shaping the lives of young athletes and inspiring them to reach their full potential.

@iwfnet @SportNZ

[Simon Kent @Navig8Per4mance]

I am incredibly proud of our team for their tireless efforts in hosting three significant events in 2024 at Kolmar in Papatoetoe, South Auckland: the Auckland Secondary Schools Championships, the North Island Championships, and the National Secondary School Championships.

[Simon Kent @Navig8Per4mance]

By hosting these events, we provided a platform for athletes to compete and excel while fostering a sense of community and connection amongst all involved.