Scholarships set sporting stars up for success

MEDIA RELEASE
March 2009

Scholarships set sporting stars up for success

A $2000 scholarship awarded to both Wellington Institute of Technology (WelTec) Exercise Science students Letisha Carr and Jessica Lea has provided well deserved financial support to the two sports enthusiasts.

Second year student Letisha Carr started her sporting career in netball, softball, athletics and soccer, but it was a desire to learn self defence that got her interested in karate. “My coach said that I had natural talent, so I started entering competitions. I just really liked the whole adrenalin rush and the fact that it is a full body conditioning sport.”

Letisha has competed in Karate around the world with trips to Fiji, Russia, the Phillipines, Turkey, Cyprus and Japan. In 2008, she competed in Australia at the Oceania Competition and took out the senior open section. “I was supposed to be in the under 21 section but I wanted to push myself, I didn’t think that I would win, I just thought I’d give it a shot”. As a result, Letisha will be heading to Taiwan for the World Championships in July and to the Junior World Championships in Morocco in November.

First year student, Jessica (Jess) Lea found out about her Secondary School scholarship via email while working as a lifeguard in Australia over the summer. For the Hamilton local, it was her netball umpiring skills that brought about her scholarship. “It takes so much pressure off having to worry about finances” she says. Jess received a sports ambassador scholarship from Sport Wellington as well as her WelTec scholarship.

She stumbled upon umpiring almost by chance although she concedes that netball is in her blood. “My mum was an umpire and one day I was walking past the netball courts and they were short on umpires, someone threw me a whistle and said you can umpire.”

Jess has travelled all around New Zealand umpiring representative games including the New Zealand under 23 team, the New Zealand Secondary School Trials and The Magic Trials. It’s something she’s passionate about. “People would be surprised to know how much there is to learn as an umpire, you need to know every intricate detail about the game.”

While still adjusting to her move to Wellington and her studies at WelTec, Jess is pleased with her decision to study. “The teaching staff are really down to earth and are not afraid to open up about their own experiences.”

Letisha agrees, “My time at WelTec has been great, in my studies I’ve learnt about nutrition, exercise science, anatomy, weights and programming, anatomy and psychology all of which has helped my training. I really rate my first year, the tutors and the facilities are both really good.”

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