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Sporting scholarships a coup

Published: Fri 30 May 2008 05:33 PM
Sporting scholarships a coup
Massey sportspeople have scooped 67 of this year’s 202 Prime Minister’s athlete scholarships. The Government-backed scheme enables emerging and talented New Zealanders to pursue both tertiary study and elite sports development, by paying tertiary fees and providing a living allowance.
Acting Vice-Chancellor Professor Ian Warrington says the success of Massey students in being awarded the prestigious scholarships is outstanding.
“We are really very proud of our athletes and their achievements, and of course happy that our own commitment to sport has been recognised through awarding these scholarships to our students.”
As well as assisting athletes to seek external scholarships, Massey has developed an Academy of Sport.
Palmerston North sport development officer Kelly Rofe says the academy offers a holistic range of services for athletes, both related to their individual sport, their life after sport and their ongoing academic commitments.
“Recent achievement from our students includes the selection of cyclists Emma Petersen to represent New Zealand at the World Junior Championships in South Africa in July and Jessica Jolly to ride for the New Zealand junior team in the Kowalski Tour in Canberra in July.
“Khord Kopu has been selected to represent New Zealand at the world inline hockey championships in Slovakia in June. Shooter Robert Eastham, an Olympic hopeful, is at the German and Italian world cups, and Mike Dawson recently won the New Zealand freestyle canoe slalom nationals and is focused on heading to the world champs in July.”
Other recent successes include Ms Petersen’s win in the women’s under-19 junior tour in Rotorua, and the strong showings made by motor sport driver Anthony Pedersen in the inaugural Hamilton V8 street race and the National GT3 Porsche champs. Kelly O'Donnell and Ryan Groen both finished second in their respective senior divisions at the national barefoot waterskiing championships, with ex-Massey student Stephanie Hamblyn finishing first in the women’s division.
The Prime Minister’s Athlete Scholarship programme is a government initiative managed by SPARC and administered by the NZ Academy of Sport North and South Island operations. The scholarship allows athletes to have their academic fees paid (at domestic student rates) to a maximum of $10,000 per annum, and receive a living allowance of up to $6000 per annum. The awards were made at a function in Wellington on Tuesday.
ENDS

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