Huge gain brings massive loss

Huge gain brings massive loss

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Nat Schlebusch is a fitter, lighter and happier person.

Nat Schlebusch may have gained a Certificate in Exercise and Sport Performance at UCOL Wairarapa, but he also lost a staggering 20 kilograms in the process.

Nat says a combination of the physical exercise involved in the Certificate course and the energetic encouragement of his lecturer Eddy Kuipers has made him a fitter, lighter and happier person.

South African born and Afrikaans speaking Nat had always struggled with school. His mild dyslexia and a move to an English speaking country when he was ten years old meant learning was difficult. “I seemed to fall through the gaps,” he says.

The 19 year old had always enjoyed sport and once he enrolled in the UCOL Wairarapa Sports programme, Nat discovered his passion for the fitness industry and a new found love of learning. “UCOL was my first positive learning environment,” Nat says.

Nat and his classmates not only spent a lot of time on the physical and practical aspects of the course, including work experience at local gyms, they investigated sports psychology. “We learnt a lot about ourselves in the process,” he says.

With the help of UCOL student support staff, Nat applied to attend an eight day Outward Bound course in June. He was selected and awarded a $2,000 scholarship to take part in the No Limits programme in which half of the participants have a mild disability. As an able bodied person, Nat says it was a once in a lifetime experience. “It really broadened my understanding and made me appreciate that endurance, heart and passion are in everyone, disabled or not. It was inspiring and motivating.”

Nat will graduate from UCOL Wairarapa in April and works as a Personal Trainer at Masterton’s cityfitness gym.”I can’t believe how far I’ve come in a year.”

ENDS

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