The aim of our scholarship scheme is to assist local sporting talent to perform to the best of their ability, by assisting them financially so they have access to greater sporting opportunities.
Ryan has been doing Taekwon-Do since March 2016 and since then he has been to, and placed at, many Local, Regional, National, and International tournaments. He has also graded up through the ranks of Taekwon-Do, with every grading he has sat (starting as a White Belt), achieving an A pass.
In 2019 Joshua was selected for NZU21 team for Oceania which won the Australia state Champs and U21 Oceania Champs. Also, in 2019 Joshua was selected to play in the CPS League in China and was only 1 of 5 New Zealand U21 players to compete.
Phoenix is currently studying full time at Massey. At 18 years old, she has been fortunate enough to attend 2 world champs as a Junior and she hopes to do the same as a senior again
Anabel won the NZ national championships and the Oceania Championships making her the top squash player in NZ in her age group (under 13's). Anabel was also the only Oceania female player to compete in the Junior British Open and the Scottish open, coming in 20th and 5th place respectively and also saw her team place first at the NZ national championships last year.
Georgie is a 15 year old student who attends Palmerston North Girls' High School. She has played for the 1st XI at PNGHS since she was year 9. She also plays for the Marist Womens 1st's, who play in Wellington's W-League competition. For the past 2 years she has played for Central U14 girls and last year was chosen to play for the Central National Womens Team, where she started most games.
Brodie is 11 years old and in 2019 he held a National ranking of 1st in NZ for under 11 boys in his sport. His squash successes in 2019 were 3rd place in the Oceania Junior under 11 Championships (best placed NZ player in his age group), and 3rd place at the North Island Championships for under 13's.
Abby is a member and Captain of the U15 Manawatu Girls Cricket team and also a Member of the CD U15 Girls Cricket team. Abby will attend tournaments this year in Mt Maunganui in Oct/Dec and Palmerston North for the CD U15 girls, where she will attend the CD U15 Tournament in Wanganui. Scholarship accepted on behalf of Abby by her father.
Lochlan is 14 years old and year 10 at St Peter's College. He began cycling in year 8 and is heading towards his 3rd season of schools cycling and is working with Gary King to help set up and train the St Peter's new younger riders as part of his Bronze Duke of Edinburgh award. They started with two cyclists in 2018 and last year had 6 attend the National schools cycling event.
Keanu is 17 years old and took up mountain biking just over 2 years ago. In 2018 he won the Under 19 Class of the Arapuke Enduro when he was just 16. He placed in the top 10 of his age group in the 45km Rotorua Winter Classic in August 2019. Also placed in the top 10 in his age group in the 100km Whaka 100 Rotorua Mountain Bike Race in October 2019.
This year Adam has been selected into the Cycling NZ Mountain Bike Performance Hub and is 1 of 3 under 19 riders to have been selected. Adam competed in the Round the lake Taupo cycle challenge and finished 19th in 2019 Elites, he hopes to improve on that this year.
2019 was a big year for Adam, being based in Switzerland for 3 months with the Wildcats Swiss triathlon team. This was a great experience and helped him develop as an athlete and a person. He achieved some strong results and this year he plans to step up to the German Bundesliga which is a much more competitive league.
Maraki was fortunate to be selected for the New Zealand Under 16 Boys Touch Team last year and was honoured at the Touch NZ prizegiving to receive the New Zealand U16 Boys Player Awards. An award that was bestowed on him from the players themselves and the coaching management of the team. Maraki Aumua has been selected for the 2020 New Zealand Under 16 Boys Touch Team.
The St Peter's College cycling team has grown from two riders in 2018 to around 20 this year. This scholarship will help with some new equipment for the cyclists to help further their training.
Sophie has just turned 13 years old and goes to PNGHS. Sophie has been an enthusiastic cyclist for many years doing her first Tour de Manawatu at 10 years old with her father. Sophie started riding competitively in 2017 when she joined the PNINS cycling team.
This year Sam has recently joined both the Manawatu Triathlon Club and Feilding Moa Harrier club committee to give back to the community and share his view as a young person on the committee. During the year, he is looking to represent the Manawatu region where and when he can.
Ta is a 13 year old, (Year 9), Track Cyclist for Bike Manawatu and PNBHS. Together with his identical twin brother Harrison, Ta started Road and Track cycling in 2018 as both an individual and as a team with his brother. Ta has achieved promising results over this time.
At the AGTN championships Harrison won the bronze medal in the U15 Boys 500m individual Time Trial, the gold medal in the U15 Boys 750m Derby, and together with his brother, Ta, another gold medal in the U15 Boys Team Sprint (two riders) where they twice set a new NZ Championship and National record for the event (once in the heats and then again in the gold medal race).
Alyssa is in Year 12 at St Peter’s College and is the only school student and the youngest in the Canoe Polo team. When she started high school, she set herself the goal of being selected for the New Zealand team and is so excited to have achieved this already. The World Champs are contested every two years so she will still be eligible for the Junior team in 2022 and 2024 where she hopes to compete and bring home a medal.
Angus is an Elite Track Cyclist originally from Feilding. He attended PNBHS from 2015-2019 before moving up to Hamilton to pursue Track Cycling at an elite level. His biggest achievement so far has been breaking the NZ U19 Flying 200m All-Comers Record as well as 5 National Titles. He is also a finalist for this year's Manawatu Sports Awards in the Junior Sports Person of The Year category and won the Cycling category at last year's Manawatu School Sports Awards.
Kara is a 22 year old middle distance runner who has lived in Palmerston North pretty much her whole life, 12 years of which she has been competing in national and international level running events. Representing PN Athletics and Harrier Club and the Manawatu Centre team, her best results from the previous year include 2nd places at both the 2019 Senior Women Cross Country National Champs and the 2020 Senior Women 1500m at the National Track and Field Champs. By time, she is ranked 3rd woman in New Zealand for 1500m in 2020.
Angus is a 16 year old multi-sport athlete. He plays rugby, cricket and track and field and is in year 12 at PNBHS. He competes at national level for the 200m and Long jump. He won gold at the NZ secondary schools athletics (NZSSA) in the junior 200m and placed 2nd in the long jump at the same competition, along with anchoring the junior 4x100 relay to a bronze medal.
(absent - not photographed)
Grayson began training at competitive gymnastics when he was 6 years old. He recently came first at MAG level four for our local gym club, MGI Palmerston North and was the youngest in his field. Grayson is committed to his training, 4 times per week and shows determination to succeed in this discipline.
Recipients photographed with Paul Roache, Property Brokers Regional Director.