A host of netball players are successfully mixing sport and study, via the USC Thunder.
There are nine University of the Sunshine Coast students in two Thunder teams that compete in Queensland main netball competitions, which are a pathway to the elite Super Netball.
Thunder Operations Manager Ellie Meyer said the student athletes were thoroughly enjoying the experience of being semi-professional athletes while studying.
“The university is providing great assistance to all of these athletes through its High Performance Student Athlete program,” she said.
“It has been very accommodating and has aided the players in pursuing both their careers and their sporting ambitions.
“The squad trains mornings and evenings on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and many of the students have arranged their classes for those days so they can train, study and train again without having to leave campus.”
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Joining the Thunder this year are five first-year students, including Brianna Martyn (Secondary Education/Recreation and Outdoor Environmental Studies), Sarah Harris (Nursing Science), Gemma Cowin (Nursing Science), Ashlee Barnett (Secondary Education/Recreation and Outdoor Environmental Studies) and Chloe Bingham (Primary Education).
They train alongside continuing students Binnian Hunt (Business Management), Annabelle Lawrie (Secondary Education/Recreation and Outdoor Environmental Studies), Amy Metcalf (Environmental Management) and Mary-Ellen Bonser (Clinical Exercise Physiology).
