Monash fosters sporting talent
Elite Athlete Support Program member Jamie Huggett
A world champion free-style skier and an Olympic triathlon hopeful are among more than 150 Monash students who, as part of the University’s Elite Athlete Support Program (EASP), are showing that it’s possible to compete at elite level sports and keep up with their studies.
Anna Segal balances her passion for slopestyle skiing with a demanding double degree in Law and Arts. Anna took out the Slopestyle World Women’s Championship for 2011 and was a Winter X Games gold medallist in 2009.
Jamie Huggett, is studying a Bachelor of Sport Promotion and Event Management and has been recognised as one of Australia’s most promising triathletes by securing a spot in the shadow squad of six for the 2012 Olympic Games. Three members of the squad will make the trip to Beijing.
Both students have rigorous training regimes and regularly travel overseas for competition. Their demanding sporting schedules often conflict with their university attendance and assessment requirements.
The EASP, since its inception in 2002, has assisted hundreds of students to successfully negotiate these conflicts. Monash Sport works directly with the faculties to support the student athletes to balance their busy lives.
The result has been a reduced drop-out rate of students with both high-level sporting and study commitments.
Monash Sport Director, Martin Doulton, is proud of the success of the program, and stressed that EASP members must fulfil all the standard requirements of their academic programs.
“As a person who unsuccessfully combined elite sporting and study activities in the late 1970’s I can only commend the opportunities that today’s elite student athletes have available to them at Monash. Very few elite athletes are in sports that will set them up financially for life, making education very important,” Mr Doulton said.
“It is a well recognised fact that combining sport at an elite level with academic studies is extremely challenging. However, with the support of a strongly-endorsed, personalised support program, such as the Monash EASP, the likelihood of our talented high-performance student athletes succeeding in all areas is greatly increased.”
For more information about the Monash University Elite Athlete Support Program visit the Monash Sport website.