At the 2006 Commonwealth Games, Wellington businessman Lloyd Morrison was seriously concerned that very few Wellingtonian’s were represented in the New Zealand team. He decided something needed to be done and persuaded Luvaine McDonald, his childhood Learn to Swim coach, to become involved. 

Lloyd always had a passion to give aspiring young athletes the opportunity to excel at the highest level. Utilising his connections in sport and business WHiPA was finally established in October 2007. 

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​The foundation sponsors were Wellington International Airport, Infratil, Contact Energy, Bank of New Zealand and many other generous supporters have also worked with WHiPA.

WHiPA established a high performance diving unit In Wellington, recruiting international coaches Steven Zhu and Li Feng Yang, and through the WHiPA programme athletes represented New Zealand at World Championships and Commonweath Games. WHiPA also hosted the Asia Pacific Junior Diving Invitational – teams from China, Malaysia, Australia, Hong Kong, USA and New Zealand attending.

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WHiPA worked closely to support the Wellington High Performance Swimming Unit assisting athletes train in Wellington and to compete at World Championships, Commonwealth and Olympic Games through to 2014.

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In 2015 WHiPA redefined our Lloyd Morrison Scholarships to ensure that we are getting the best overall desired results, and to this aim, we are now working closely with Sport Wellington in identifying up and coming emerging talent both in the athlete and coach environment, as well as recognising those Wellington athletes who are and continue to star, along with upskilling technical officials that are integral part of the development of our sport locally.