The chosen athletes bring a broad range of qualifications and professional interests including sport management, athlete wellbeing, criminal justice, digital, architecture, art & design, sustainability, commercial business and more. Recipients are based in Waikato, Auckland and Otago.
The ten recipients are;
| Recipient | Sport | Career industry/sector |
| Aaron Booth | Athletics | Sport management |
| Rushlee Buchanan | Cycling | Sport, health & athlete wellbeing |
| Frances Davies | Hockey | Criminal justice, social services & not for profit |
| Matthew Dunham | Rowing | Creative sales, marketing, trade, customer service, not for profit |
| Anna Grimaldi | Athletics | Quantity surveying |
| Molly Meech | Yachting | Sustainability |
| Corey Peters | Snow Sports | Architecture |
| Dylan Schmidt | Trampolining | Business, commercial law & professional services |
| Paul Snow-Hansen | Yachting | Art, design & engineering |
| Nicholas Woods | Hockey | Property & finance |
Trampolinist Dylan Schmidt is interested in business, commercial law and professional services. “This opportunity, to be able to continue training with the same intensity and start paving my career outside of sport is amazing. It means I can leave my sport with some work experience and a few steps ahead of where I would be without it, which is invaluable,” he says.
Yachting’s Molly Meech feels the same; “I’m very excited and grateful for this opportunity to gain work experience in the environmental sector while continuing my sporting career. This will help me gain confidence in my path after my sporting career.”
Internship Pilot Lead Hannah McLean says interest in the pilot programme from both athletes and partner organisations has been excellent.
“We have had a fantastic response from athletes keen to develop their career outside of sport. They realise having a dual career will play an important role in both their sporting performance, wellbeing and transition out of sport.”
“Employers also recognise the value of bringing a high performance athlete onto their team and we have had a great response from potential partner organisations wanting to support this initiative which, expands the already successful Prime Minister’s Scholarship Programme beyond support for tertiary education into experience in the work environment”.
“The internship supports athletes to develop their skills and be ‘work ready’ through valuable hands on experience in a day-to-day work environment, as well as the chance to make connections and expand their professional network. Equally this is an exciting opportunity for organisations and businesses to have a high- performance athlete join their team – bringing transferable skills and a unique perspective.”
HPSNZ is currently working with a range of organisations to create and confirm bespoke paid internship opportunities for each of the successful candidates.
