Minister for Sport and Recreation Murray McCully has today personally congratulated a talented group of sports people awarded Prime Minister’s Sport Scholarships at a ceremony for South Island recipients in Christchurch. Ceremonies are held throughout the year to present certificates to recipients.
Every year the Government invests $4.25 million in the athletes, coaches, support team members and officials awarded scholarships. This year 482 athletes, coaches, officials and support team members from 32 sports are benefiting from the Prime Minister's Sport Scholarship programme.
Prime Minister's Sport Scholarships help emerging and world-class athletes undertake tertiary study while they train and compete. Coaches, support team members and officials are also awarded scholarships to further develop their skills.
"An elite athlete can spend many years pursuing that dream to be the best that they can be – to win a world title or an Olympic medal, or set a world record," Mr McCully said.
"And when they're training and competing overseas, putting in hours and hours of preparation and hard work every week, other aspects of their lives go on the backburner. For many that includes academic study."
Mr McCully says the scholarships help ease financial pressures while athletes are competing and ensure that when their sporting careers are over, they are well-positioned to move into, and excel in, other fields.
"We award scholarships to the coaches, support team members and officials who also put in a lot of hard work to see dreams achieved. Their scholarships allow them to pursue their own professional development, to become better skilled, so they can be even better at their jobs."
"I feel it's especially significant that we are presenting these South Island awards in Christchurch. We've all been saddened by the quake damage to sports facilities around the city and suburbs, and this is an opportunity to reiterate the Government's commitment to sport, and high performance sport, in Christchurch."
