BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Andi Fear-Ross (Chairperson)

Lives in: Christchurch
Family: Two teenagers – Luca and Milly
Current Polo club: Burnside Canoe Polo
First started playing canoe polo: 1991

Andi began playing canoe polo at High School as part of her Outdoor Education programme and she played her first nationals that year (1991). She was selected as Vice Captain for the NZ Junior Women's Team (1992). In 1994, Andi was selected in the NZ Women’s team to travel to GB, England for the Inaugural World Champs but withdrew due to injury prior to departure.
Although she stayed involved in polo at a domestic level, it wasn’t until she toured Europe as co-coach of Team USA in 1998 and saw the sport being played on the continent and at World Champs that she felt inspired to get fully involved again.

Highlights include:

  • Winning the 2004 World Champs in Japan as a member of the GB team
  • Spending the 2005 season playing with an Italian Club side from Sicily
  • Creating teams with ex-international players from France, Germany, GB and Italy for weekend tournaments
  • Playing with the Paddle Ferns in 2009 for the World Games (Taiwan) where under extreme weather conditions, the venue was changed mid-tournament and then 3 periods of 10min extra time were played during the crossovers
  • Refereeing the 1998 World Champs (Portugal) Women's final.

Andi joined the board in 2015 and is the General Manager for a Business Strategy company.

National Polo Involvement
(read more)

Michael Beauchamp (President)

Lives in: Wellington
Family: 
Current Polo club: WCPA
First started refereeing canoe polo: 

Jo Shepperd

Jo became the board secretary in 2021.

Ainsley Massarotto

Ainsley joined the board at the AGM in 2023.

Ainsley has been a supporter of Canoe Polo for many years. Her husband and sons are both New Zealand representative players and she has been supporting them in this since 2006. As a teacher, she has had the privilege of encouraging many students to try Canoe Polo and watched them develop their skills and their love of the sport.

In supporting her family, Ainsley has been lucky enough to travel to an Oceania tournament in Sydney where all 3 family members competed. Additionally, she was fortunate enough to experience two World Championships. The first was in Canada where her eldest Phil competed, and then in France to watch sons Anto and Phil compete together in the NZ U21 team. 

Following the boys around the world provided Ainsley with a unique vantage point to witness the pinnacle of New Zealand Canoe Polo and to get an understanding of the many layers of support needed for our players to find success. This exposure fueled her desire to actively engage in supporting and nurturing the growth of the sport in our country.

Robert Coulson

Robert joined the board at the AGM in 2023.

Aaron Barrett

Aaron joined the board at the AGM in 2023.

Aaron has been involved with canoe polo for 5 years with his boys picking the sport that from times now rules my house. 

Max (14) plays for Karamu junior A team and also HB Dgrade NL.

Lucas (11) plays for Parkvale primary 

Aaron now plays socially after spending so much time watching, so was time to get on the water. He enjoys all things outdoors including deer stalking and mountain biking. 

Aaron is a current board member for Parkvale primary of 3 years and Chair person of a year. He is also a current member of the camp Kaitawa trust board for 12 months. 

Aaron is a project manager for a building company in Napier that focuses on light commercial projects and occasionally residential projects. 

Aaron has a passion for beening involved in the delivery of hobbies that allow the interaction and socialisation of kids through sport. He was involved in soccer all the way to national league level and still recall those relationships today in the business world. Sport produces so many opportunities allowing life lessons to be learnt along the way.