10 February 1999 Class of '99 – Country's First Sports Scholars – Gather at Lincoln University

Sixty sports stars of tomorrow gather at Lincoln University this coming week (w/c 14/2) for the start of their studies as the country's first university Sports Scholars.

Three codes – rugby, cricket and netball – are represented in the pioneering programme which is a collaboration between Lincoln University and Canterbury Rugby Football Union, Canterbury Cricket Association and Canterbury Netball Union.

Thirty of the students are on rugby scholarships, 15 on cricket and 15 on netball. Thirty-two of the scholars are from the South Island and 28 from the North Island. Twenty-one are female, including one of the rugby scholars and five of the cricket scholars. Most are studying for Commerce or Commerce and Management degrees (27), followed by Recreation Management (20), with a sprinkling across most of the other Lincoln University academic qualifications such as Agricultural Science, Resource Studies, Science, Maori Studies, Social Science, Farm Management and Horticultural Management.

A special three-day orientation programme for this inaugural team of Sports Scholars starts on Sunday (14 February) ahead of the University's formal registration period which runs from the following Tuesday to Friday (16-19 February).

On Monday 15 February the Sports Scholars travel from the University to nearby Burnham Military Camp for a challenging afternoon on the Krypton Course.

On Tuesday 16 February the Scholars have a special luncheon on campus with representatives of the three Canterbury sports bodies associated with their scholarships. Silver Fern Belinda Blair will be the guest speaker, and former Silver Ferns coach Leigh Gibbs will be among the audience in her role as Programme Director for Canterbury Netball.

"Among the 60-strong group of talented young sportsmen and sportswomen which has come into the University under the Sports Scholarship programme are many who will go on to be top personalities in their sports in the years to come. Lincoln University is proud to be associated with them all as they set out on the road to academic achievement and sporting success," says Lincoln University's External Relations Manager, Geoff Ormandy.

Ian Collins, Journalist, Lincoln University, Canterbury, New Zealand