SWAS welcomes diversity of athletes

Five up-and-coming athletes excelling in fields as diverse as athletics, cycling, taekwondo and ultimate frisbee have had their potential recognised by the South West Academy of Sport and been given scholarships to further their sporting careers.

Ashley Evans (ultimate frisbee), Brooke Rogers (athletics), Connor Lambert (cycling), Imogen Keall (athletics) and Jayme-Lee Smith (taekwondo) are the latest young sportsmen and women to receive a highly-coveted SWAS scholarship.

As members of the SWAS individual scholarship program, they will get high-level support to develop as athletes and achieve their sporting goals.

SWAS chief executive Bernice Butlion said the Academy was thrilled to provide the five athletes with the opportunity to enhance their skills and carve out a long and rewarding career in sport.

“I’m proud to welcome these new athletes to the South West Academy of Sport and present them with the chance toachieve their potential,” she said.

“These promising athletes are already attaining excellent results in their respective sports and I look forward to watching their progress in the months ahead.”

Butlion said the new additions to the program would join continuing scholarship holders Breanna Dixon, Jacob Willcox, Lyndon Goldsmith, Mikaela Greene and Nathaniel May, bringing to 10 the total number of young athletes in the program.

“The Academy offers individual scholarships to young South West athletes excelling in a sport whose code is not covered by the academy’s partner programs of Australian Rules football, basketball, cricket, hockey, netball, soccer and tennis,” she said.

The scholarships help athletes to access support services such as sports medicine and career development.

The costs for these services are all covered by SWAS.

A small portion of funds is also considered towards travel and competition expenses.