About us
Richard Greer (BPhed, BSc) – Founder
A background of Complete Performance.
On my return to New Zealand in 2006 I was inundated with enquires to offer coaching support to a number of endurance athletes. As a result of doing some research into what was being offered in Christchurch and New Zealand and talking to various athletes and sport scientists etc, I found that there was a need for a top quality coaching service that is able to work with athletes of all abilities.
I have been involved in specific endurance training since 1998 and have been coaching since 1999 as part of my studies towards a Bachelor of Physical Education majoring in exercise prescription at Otago. During this time I concurrently studied towards a Bachelor of Science majoring in Human Physiology, as I have always been very interested in how the human body copes and reacts to the stress of physical activity and specifically endurance exercise. My racing evolved from half marathons on the road 
to off road running events around the Otago region and subsequently I caught the Coast to Coast Bug. This had always been a goal of mine to complete for the same reason as everyone begins most endurance events “to see if they can”. In 2001 I finished with an 11th in the 2 day event and being a competitive person the fire was ignited to see how good I could really be, now that I knew what the event was all about. In 2002 I improved to 2nd in the 2 day event and then went in search of other events to compete in to further test my training theories and see what my body could achieve. For the 2003 Goldrush Multisport event in Central Otago part of my training included a heat acclimatisation phase and I believe that this was the difference between suffering to finish and claiming 2nd place.
During this period of time I was involved in coaching a number of athletes of all abilities to reach their complete performance in a number of events. Through my work at Canterbury University’s Recreation Centre and then onto the Southern Institute of Technology’s High Performance Sport programme I became the mentor to a number of different athletes from a wide range of sporting backgrounds. I believe that this time taught me a lot about how different athletes from various sports train and how to work with people to get the most out of them.
In 2005 I completed the longest day Coast to Coast and finished 4th. In training for this I had really started to know my body and know when to rest as my biggest training week only ended up being 16 hours. This is extremely important for any athlete but possibly even more so for an endurance athlete. Due to the nature of the training it is often thought of that more is better. My athletes and students have taught me that everyone is different and react differently depending on a huge number of factors such as training age, the type of job they have, how well they sleep, what and how much they eat, family life etc.
After 2005 my wife and I left for the UK where I spent time in Oxford, Manchester and London teaching. We travelled extensively which included a cycle tour in the Pyrenees to follow the Tour de France, a trip to the Arctic Circle to meet Santa Clause, a Danish Christmas and six weeks in East Africa.
On our return I resumed at the Southern Institute of Technology as the Programme Manager of the Sport and Fitness Department and have taken up cycle racing as my new challenge. As a result of enquiries from a number of athletes of all abilities Complete Performance was born. Complete Performance will aim to service this need in Christchurch and New Zealand to allow people to receive the same services (such as Sport Psych skills training and Sport Science) that an elite athlete would need to complete on the world stage.Therefore with this support and the correct training that is matched to your needs and fitness levels, you will be able to achieve your “Complete Performance”.