Despite the gloomy weather between Christmas and the welcoming in of 2012, a new year does provide the opportunity for new beginnings.
We've all had a chance to reflect on 2011, unwind and refocus for what lies ahead.
Despite warnings about resolutions being a waste of time, we still make them.
The recently knighted Sir Graham Henry, for instance, has vowed to focus more on his family this year and Sonny Bill Williams continues to offer his athletic body irrespective of the code, country, or creed to the highest bidder.
Like Christmas gifts that were all the rage in 2011, I can't help but feel SBW is so "last season".
I'm tired of caring about what kind of ball he holds, whom he boxes and where he has a chai latte. Good luck to him and his new year's resolution of milking his sports career for all it's worth.
For some of us who don't have the luxury of waiting for the highest bid to be made, this is a time to reflect on what we want to achieve in 2012. We have time to take a breather and prepare.
For summer sports, however, this is the business end. No time to reflect, just to get on and do it.
Sports like tennis, cricket, multisport and sevens have their day in the sun (if the weather will just behave itself, that is).
I wonder if SBW has considered pursuing a career in sevens? Physically, he'd make an ideal sevens player and the crowds would flock to see him for a bit of titillation and eye candy.
Considering his current modus operandi he'd never consider it because the NZRU doesn't offer million-dollar contracts to players of the condensed game, but with sevens being included in the 2016 Olympics, that might change.
Perhaps we'll see SBW (Show Bill the Wads-of-cash) change his code and his loyalties once again. Now what did I say about not caring? Before heading back to work I did get the chance to soak up one day of sun at the sevens tournament in Mt Maunganui.
Provincial men's and women's teams from around New Zealand and Shandong, China, congregated at Blake Park to test out their squads and the opposition before the national tournament in Queenstown.
It was touch and go whether the tournament would go ahead at all with the torrential rain dumping on the Bay of Plenty region, but the event organisers were blessed with great field conditions and exceptional weather on the day.
The inclusion of women's sevens in the 2016 Olympics has meant sevens coaches, players and tournaments for women are coming out of the woodwork and it was great to see women's teams from Taranaki, Manawatu, Waikato, Counties, Bay of Plenty, Shandong (two), and Eketahuna there.
As a woman looking for inspiration, this was the place to be. One woman breastfed her 2-week-old baby between games, another made the trip from Australia just for the tournament with her two young children in tow, another had to kayak over a flooded road to make it out of Taneatua for the tournament, and the Shandong province invested thousands to bring two women's teams to New Zealand for several months to experience sevens played the Kiwi way.
Pity I'm over the hill. If I was 18 years old again I'd make sure I was on the sevens bandwagon heading for Rio de Janeiro in 2016.
Instead I settled for adding to my 2012 list, goals such as "must get fitter" and "need to play a sport" and "eat less chocolate".
In other words, after watching these fit and athletic women running around I said to myself: "get off your A and get into G!" Nice, specific, measurable and achievable goals to set. Yeah, right.
As for the men's sevens, I only caught the final between Canterbury and Taranaki, which was very one-sided, with Taranaki winning 40-0.
For many of the men's teams, the Mount tournament is a chance to finalise their squad of 12 and suss out the opposition players, so I suspect many of the teams keep a few of their weapons and tactics under wraps until they hit Queenstown.
Hopefully, the weather holds out for that. Meanwhile, I'm back at work and raring to put those new year's resolutions into practice.
Now, where did I hide my running shoes?
