Barbara Kendall Sailing to Athens
Barbara Kendall is one of New Zealand’s most enduring and successful sportswomen. She took up boardsailing in 1984, when she was 17, as a “fun way to see the world.” She competed first in P class and later Starlings, in which she and her older sister, Wendy, once beat the boys in an Auckland championship.
In 1987 Barbara joined the professional boardsailing circuit, finishing eighth in her first year, progressing to fourth in 1989, then second in 1990.
In the early 1990s boardsailing, and especially women’s boardsailing, was very much a minor sport in most New Zealanders’ eyes. Barbara changed that perception when she burst into national prominence by winning the gold medal at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics. It was New Zealanders’ only gold medal of those Games and she was the first New Zealand woman to win an Olympic gold medal since Yvette Williams 40 years earlier.
Barbara followed up this stellar performance by winning the silver medal at Atlanta in 1996 and the bronze at Sydney in 2000. But upon returning home from the Sydney Olympics, Barbara began to speak of retirement. She wanted to have some free time and fun, begin a family and perhaps return to her work as a dance and movement teacher. But when questioned about the possibility of her competing in the future, Barbara replied with a cryptic, “Never say never!”
ambassador for success
She put her free time to good use, becoming a Sport Ambassador for the Hillary Commission.* The program is designed to help improve the sporting performance of young people, and to help young people achieve their goals in the sporting arena. She is one of seven top athletes who visit high schools to conduct workshops with students who are high achievers in sport or leaders in other areas of school activity. The workshops help the students with motivation, goal setting and achieving their goals.
Another organisation that has benefited greatly from Barbara’s expertise is the Edmund Hillary Outdoor Pursuits Centre (OPC). OPC’s largest client group is New Zealand secondary schools.
Every year around 4000 students from about 105 different secondary schools participate in OPC’s program. These young people suddenly find the world is full of opportunities. Perceived barriers such as gender, race and physical size are discovered to be no obstacle to participation and achievement.
Such is her level of involvement with youth motivation that Barbara has been named a co-patron of OPC.
life lessons
Barbara stresses that to excel in any of life’s arenas, a young person must adapt to their circumstances. “One of the things I needed to learn was to accept my nerves instead of trying to fight them. I realised I had to have nerves because that’s where my adrenaline comes from and I learned to use them as a positive instead of a negative. Before a race, instead of thinking ‘Oh, no! What’s going to be the outcome?’ I now think, ‘Oh, cool! Let’s go see what happens.’ I focus on wanting an above-average day and that really helps.’
“Learning about the psychology of winning has been one of the most interesting things for me. Every time I go into a competition, I’m a different person. I’ve got a different set of circumstances and a different set of people around me. Often, I’m even in a different country. Just coping with all that so I can still compete at my best is a challenge.
“I’ve also learned that I need to try to get into the state I work the best in. I’ve got to be totally relaxed; I’ve got to be happy and excited and I’ve got to be energised. I try to think in the positive, because as soon as I doubt myself it tends to come back at me and things start going wrong.
“If you really want to do something then you should just go for it, because if your heart and soul and energy are into it, then you’re going to be successful. If you keep looking back over your shoulder and thinking ‘I should have done that,’ then you’ll regret it, because you’re not living to your potential.”
n Barbara thinks a lot of people let themselves be sidetracked from achieving. They do what is expected of them, she says—get a job and earn some money. The things they really want to do get sidelined because of society’s expectation. “You don’t actually need that much money if you’re doing what you love,” she says. “If you really want to do something, there must be a way of being able to survive and keep doing it.”
Eventually, after a period of “doing other things” and “catching up on life,” Barbara began to realise that she really did enjoy the sport, so away she went again. “I know from experience that I need to give myself time to recover—to get that hunger back again.
“I do get burned out at times, but I believe that’s what happens if we put a lot of energy into something that’s important. Like any production, an exam or anything you’re working toward, you’re really mentally tired from it when it’s finished. I think that’s normal, and if we’re not burned out after doing something big, then obviously we didn’t put everything we had into it.”
Barbara has compiled a superb record at world championship level, winning in 1998, 1999 and 2002. The 2002 title, won in Thailand, was the most remarkable. She was 36—quite old in professional sports. She had married Shayne Bright in 1993 and their daughter, Samantha, was born in August 2001. Amazingly, just 15 months later, Barbara was world champion yet again!
Then, in 2003, she finished second in the world championships, so now she’s off to Athens for the Olympics Games—and to retain her mantle as the Golden Girl of New Zealand sport.
* The Hillary Commission for Sport, Fitness and Leisure is an independent statutory body established by the Sport, Fitness and Leisure Act 1987.
Sources: www.barbarakendall.co.nz
Living Life Out Loud, Kay Douglas, HarperCollins Publishers (NZ), 2001.
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