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2015 Sports Scholarship Recipients for DOYSF
West Auckland pre elite athletes receiving the Don Oliver Youth Sport Foundation Sports Scholarships for 2015. 12 Athletes have shown promise to perform at an elite level and have been given a helping hand to get there by the great support of the Waitakere Community.
Gabrielle Fa'amausili
Swimming
Gold
Gabrielle already has an astonishing record of achievement at the tender age of 14. She is the World Junior 50m backstroke champion and world record holder, the bronze medallist over the 50m backstroke at the Junior Olympics for which she was team flag-bearer. New Zealand’s top junior swimmer and already among our top female swimmers of any age, she is the national open champion in 100m backstroke, and national gold medallist in the 14 years age group in the 100m backstroke, 100m freestyle & 50m backstroke. She is also the national age group record holder in the 100m and 50m free and the Oceania champion and record holder in the 50m backstroke.
Winner of the 2013 Halberg Emerging Talent Award, she now has her sights set on a range of titles and records on her way to being our “next big thing” in swimming, at the Rio Olympics.
Brahm Richards
Wrestling & Judo
Silver
Holding your own in a sport on a National level is a tough ask, then there is Brahm who is currently ranked NZ1 for his category in both Judo and Wrestling.
Maintaining this level demands focus and travel with Brahm being invited to Australian Institute of sport for Oceania training camps over the last 6 months and taking gold at Oceania Championships 2014 for wrestling and bronze for Oceania’s in Judo.
Brahm is aiming to take gold again at Oceania Championships for wrestling in 2016 and then on to Egypt to qualify top 2 and his spot in the Olympic Wrestling arena in Rio.
Kanah Andrews - Nahu
Olympic Weightlifting
Bronze
Starting her sporting life at the age of 11 in crossfit, this 14 year old Olympic Weightlifter now holds 31 New Zealand Youth Records in her sport.
Recently competing in the Oceania Weightlifting Championships in Papa New Guinea in July Kanah placed 3rd in the Youth 69kg division and has since been selected to compete for New Zealand in the Youth Commonwealth Games in Samoa this September.
Soon after the Youth Commonwealth games is the Olympic Weight Lifting New Zealand National Championships in which she hopes to place again in her journey to making future National teams in international competition.
Aaron Booth
Decathlon
Bronze
Not long after he started walking Aaron’s track and field career began with the weekly trips to his sisters athletics training at Glendene Athletics Club. At age 8 he joined Waitakere athletics to take part in regional competition and his insatiable appetite drove him to compete in as many events as possible.
2015 World University games highlighted his drive with 13th place finish. Not only did he compete against athletes older than himself but he was also battling patella tendinitis in both knees at the time.
A spot on the 2020 Olympic team is Aaron’s aim and with 2017 World University Games and 2018 World championships on the way he will gain the necessary experience to get there.
Peter Bethell
Downhill Mountain Biking
Bronze
Woodhill Mountain Bike park is a short 10 minute drive from this Waimauku residents home which is a good thing considering the hours spent on the trails.
He started in cross country racing with the Jafakids Mountain Biking academy at 11 and only took up Downhill racing once receiving his sister’s old bike at 16years old and the thrill has kept him striving for a faster ride.
Over the past year Peter placed 25th in the Junior Downhill World Championships in Norway and this has given him the taste of international competition he doesn’t want to give up and he aims to compete in Europe over the next year in the hopes of getting onto a World Cup Team.
Elizabeth Cui (Lizzie)
Diving
Bronze
Driven by an Olympic Dream Elizabeth Cui continues to hold the pedestal of her sport with Gold in New Zealand open and age group women’s events 4 consecutive years and Gold in the 1 metre age group category for 3 years straight.
Recently returning from her first taste of International open competition in Puerto Rico with an 11th place finish in individual competition against a number of past Olympians and a 4th place with diving partner Liam Stone in the synchronised category.
The next 6 months see Elizabeth taking part in 2 Olympic Qualifiers and we are sure with all of her drive she will be in the Olympic facility in Rio 2016.
Jared Free
Race Walking - Athletics
Bronze
Fitting everything in is a challenge for this young race walker. Studying at Auckland University and working a part time job to pay for training he manages to fit in training to compete at the peak of his sport.
2015 saw him take gold in the senior men’s track walking 500m and 10km road walk at Oceania Area Championships in Australia as well as 1st, in championshihp record time, for the senior men’s New Zealand Race Walking Championships. At 17 years old he is ranked 1st in New Zealand for 5000m and is top of the table with his time for U20 10km race.
Among others his goal is to represent New Zealand and medal at Commonwealth Games in Australia 2018.
Britt Kindred
Surfing
Bronze
This 16 year old surfer has taken a leap this year by moving away from family to take advantage of training facilities and conditions in Raglan.
The Scholistic Championship Series winner for the past three years has also added Auckland Open Woman’s Championships and U20 National Backdoor Grombash to her list of trophys.
Britt aims to represent New Zealand at the World Junior Surfing championships with the hope of winning and following in her inspiration, Tatiana Westian-Web’s footsteps of making the World Surfing League.
Nicola McDonnell
Hockey
Bronze
This Auckland representative hockey player started aged 4 and has not wanted to miss a week of training since.
Recently selected to play for Auckland in the National Hockey league in which she hopes help the team win another National title and in the process be selected to play in the Junior World Cup qualifier in December.
Nicola hopes to, one day, emulate her inspiration Charlotte Harrison and become one of the youngest to be selected on the Black Sticks hockey team and she is well on her way having being selected for the Future Black Sticks squad for the Junior World Cup 2016.
Michael Mincham
Swimming
Bronze
Recently returning from a year training and studying in Australia Michael Mincham has returned to New Zealand with a bang qualifying for the World University Games in Korea.
Still holding the NZ Long Course record for 16 year olds in the 1500m freestyle (along with 22 other age group records) he is dominating his age group in middle distance freestyle in this country and is climbing the ranks in the open category with a 3rd place finish in this years National Open Championships.
Michael plans to Qualify for World Championships in Hungary 2017, medal in the 2018 Commonwealth Games and eventually claim an Olympic medal in Tokyo 2020.
Nicole Mettam
Soccer
Bronze
The list of achievements for this 15 year old surpasses most footballers of her age. As the youngest member on the NZ U18 development team (14 at the time) she helped the team reach the final, eventually losing to Mainland in Christchurch.
Nicole captained the U16 New Zealand Secondary schools team against NSW in their recent tour in Australia and was part of the record breaking Mt Albert Grammar team who won the Auckland and National Championships scoring 114 goals and conceding none.
She hopes to make the NZ U17 team to go to the World Cup in Jordan 2016 and later play for the NZ U20 a team and ultimately the Football Ferns.
Mitchell Murray
Cricket
Bronze
Mitchell has had successive years of achievement as an all-round cricketer. In 2012 he was Kings College 1st X1Bowler Of The Year, Suburbs New Lynn Junior Cricketer of the Year and Captain of the Auckland under 16 squad
In 2013 he captained Kings College and was Best All-Rounder. He made the most runs for the Western Districts U17s, with 195. He was again Suburbs New Lynn Junior Cricketer of the Year and a member of the Auckland Winter Academy.
In 2014 captaining Kings he was named Gillette Cup Young Cricketer of the year, making a cup record top score of 171 runs. He was Suburbs New Lynn Youth Cricketer Of The Year and joined the Auckland U19 Developing Future Aces Programme, a place he holds this year as well.