Greg Knight has seen “a million games of netball” and has more insights on the sport than most fans around the world will ever gather.

As the co-owner and senior physio at Health and Sport Central, Greg has generously dedicated a large part of his career to keeping generations of athletes and umpires active and enjoying the game they love.

Forty-one years ago, as the owner of one of Christchurch’s first sports medicine clinics, Greg was treating CNC committee member Lyn Miles, who had been out umpiring that morning. 

“Why don’t you come along to the courts on Saturdays and provide physio services?” Lyn asked Greg. Over 40 years later, Greg has become responsible for keeping many players and officials in the game.

When he started in 1982, he recalls his first home at CNC, “a little room with no windows…a tiny wee dark hole.”

He operated alongside the New Zealand Red Cross staff, attending to injuries on game day as Gloucester Sports Clinic. Greg soon offered a full medical service with the help of a team of doctors and podiatrists, enjoying a full view of the courts from 1994, when they shifted into the new Atrium building. Their portfolio included major joint dislocations, fractures, and major and minor sprains.

Following the Canterbury earthquakes, the team reinvented themselves as Health and Sport Central at a new location on Colombo Street, taking care of the representative teams.

“I have seen a lot of very talented athletes go through the Canterbury representative teams to later become Silver Fern players – including Bernice Mene, Debbie Matoe and Anna Rowberry.”

In 1990, with vast experience from grass roots to elite level, Greg became the first physio to travel with any netball team. He recalls the advocacy of Maire Erickson, “innovative and ahead of her time,” who lobbied for the value of physios as part of travelling representative squads.

According to Greg, Maire also facilitated the process of top Canterbury players travelling to Australia to spend a week at the Institute of Sport in Canberra.

“She was the driving force behind the new Atrium building. She was remarkably clever around fundraising. I have a huge amount of admiration for the person Maire was. She had an amazing team, Patsy Tainui and Chris Rodda to name a couple. 

“There’s been a great lineage of leaders in Canterbury netball, including Anna Galvan at the moment.”
Greg has a perspective on the sporting world from his vantage point as physio. He calls the administration of netball as “exceptional” – and attributes its advantage to being an sport that benefits from the strength of women at all levels.

He has also had a clear view on changes in the game and culture. “The attitude toward the game has changed; the players are much more attuned and resilient with the franchise model, to move through to international opportunities,” Greg observes.

One particular team that earns his praise is the 2023 CNC Whero Open Representative squad, recently returned from Open Rep Nationals in Ōtepoti | Dunedin. After all, the measure of success can’t always be settled in the score.

“The teams I’ve travelled away with have been really great, particularly this last one that went to Dunedin. I thought they were a really good bunch of girls. The team was well-balanced. Even though they came second to Auckland, they were definitely the best team there.”
 

Article added: Sunday 22 October 2023