25 May 2001 Lincoln Netball Scholars make their mark

Lincoln University's Sports Scholarship Programme is toasting the success of its Netball Scholars who have stamped their presence on the Canterbury Under-21 squad selections.

Six of the 11 members named for the Canterbury Black Squad and four of the nine in the Red Squad are Netball Scholars at Lincoln University. In addition another two players in the Blacks are Lincoln students.

The six Black Squad Netball Scholars are Sarah Barnes, Erin Cassie, Monique Edlin, Michelle Hall, Jessica Hollis and Dene Lynch. The other two from Lincoln are Melaia Louisi and Katie Ritchie.

Those in the Red Squad are Louise Marshall, Kate Reidy, Tracey White and Amy Woodyard.

Teams chosen from the squads will play in the South Island squad tournament in Timaru over 3-4 June and the New Zealand age group championships in Napier over 9-13 June.

Lincoln University's Sports Scholarship Programme has been a huge success in achieving its aims of providing the scholars with opportunities to achieve academically while exposing them to selection opportunities in Canterbury, says Programme Manager Geoff Ormandy.

The programme, which started in 1999, now covers five sports - cricket, hockey, netball, rugby, and table tennis.

It offers full tuition fees for degree study but to hold on to their scholarships the scholars must pass their papers and achieve academically as well as demonstrate on-going sporting excellence.

Last year academically the Lincoln University Sports Scholars had an exam pass rate of 78 percent, with 21 percent of the total marks being A's.

"While I don't have the official examination pass rates for the other New Zealand universities I would be surprised if any were higher than that," says Mike Hamlin, the programme's academic adviser.

"Also over half - 54 percent - of the sports scholars gained at least one A in their exams last year.

"These figures clearly show that the sports scholars as well as being elite sports people are also academically astute."

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