09 September 2024 Black Ferns found their path through Lincoln

Despite having completely different career goals growing up, Georgia Ponsonby and Alana Bremner both found their path to the Black Ferns through a Lincoln Sports Scholarship.

Netball was Georgia’s sport until well into high school, but Alana had been on the rugby field since she was seven.

Regardless of their beginnings, they both attributed part of their professionalism to the rigorous yet flexible training and education they received during their Sports Scholarships.

The pair are just some of the Lincoln alumni who have benefited from the scholarship programme, which is celebrating 25 years in October.

Georgia grew up playing netball and first played rugby at the age of 15 at Feilding High School.

“I wanted to be a silver fern, I was hard out into my netball.”

Her school had a strong rugby team, so she tagged along and ended up loving it. By 2017, her final year of school, she was playing for the Manawatu Farah Palmer Cup team.

She had never planned nor wanted to study at a tertiary level. Instead, she planned to work on a farm straight out of school.

“University was not really anything I was interested in. I knew I wanted to work in the ag industry, but I didn’t understand the point of a degree.”

It was one of her friends that suggested she come to Lincoln. Georgia’s response was “righto, that could be fun.”

The Sports Scholarship had closed by the time she considered applying, but her school career advisor pushed her to ask about it anyway. She was given a very short timeframe to get to Wellington for testing.

“It all happened really quickly.”

It also worked out that Manawatu was scheduled to play Canterbury that week, which meant she could display her skills in an actual game. Everything lined up and she was selected for a scholarship.

“I snuck my way in at the very last second.

I believe it was fate.

Without a scholarship Georgia believes she would have started work and never achieved a degree or pursued a rugby career.

“If I didn’t get the scholarship I wouldn’t have gone to uni. I was loving rugby and I was good at it, but the Black Ferns wasn’t even a dream.

“I’m very grateful for that one friend who suggested it.”

The hand of fate continued to guide Georgia, who changed major on the recommendation of a coworker.

Changing from a Bachelor of Commerce (Agriculture) to a Bachelor of Land and Property Rural Valuation added an extra year to her degree. It was in that extra year that she was selected for the Black Ferns.

“Hand on heart, if I didn’t do that extra year I would have just graduated and gone and got a job. I would have handed in the towel with rugby.”

It was quite a different pathway for Alana, a Banks Peninsula girl who grew up playing local rugby.

As a student at Lincoln High School and an avid young sportswoman, she planned to go to Lincoln University and applied for a Sports Scholarship, but wasn’t selected.

Instead, she continued working her summer job, but kept up her rugby. In the second half of 2014 she was selected for the Canterbury women’s team.

She tried again for a Sports Scholarship. This time she made it.

She also landed a gap year scholarship, which allowed her to start studying halfway through the year and get in an extra semester before her Sports Scholarship began.

Unlike Georgia, Alana always planned to pursue rugby, but believes Lincoln gave her the skills she needed to succeed.

“It set me up for professionalism. You had to juggle study with training.”

Her trainers took the programme seriously, which meant she had to as well.

“You had to meet standards. It prepared me to be a better player, athlete and person.

I loved it, I definitely carry a lot of those high standards now.

She was grateful for the ability to earn a degree while also working towards her rugby goals.

“I remember having a couple of finals on at the same time as exams. They always found a way to make it work.”

The pair reminisced over the early morning starts in the gym and the strict routine they had to follow.

Alana said it could be a scary for sportspeople to have nothing to fall back on when their career came to an end.

She greatly enjoyed studying Agribusiness and Food Marketing and felt more comfortable knowing she had that education for the future.

If you’re thinking about doing it, you should go for it.

Aside from the sporting and academic benefits, being a Lincoln sports scholar placed her in a social space with likeminded people.

“I made lifelong friends here. I met my partner here as well.”

Georgia said the scholarship opened academia up to people like her who never considered it as an option.

“I’m really glad I did it.

“Sport is such an amazing pathway and teaches you so many life skills. A scholarship that takes you through university like this can give you that and offer you an education.

“It can turn you into an even better person and grow you in all those other areas.”

Buy tickets for the 25 Years of Sports Scholarship Celebration here