Family, friends and industry honoured the Bay's growing sporting talents last week when nine of the regions elite athletes received High Performance Sports Scholarships from Bay of Plenty Polytechnic.

Nine of the Bay's elite athletes received High Performance Sports Scholarships.

Amongst the athletes who received scholarships were national champions representing a range of Sport New Zealand recognised sports including netball, squash, rowing, surf lifesaving, surfing, touch rugby, water polo, and wrestling.

The scholarships are open to all students studying any full-time programme at the polytechnic who are competing at a national or international level in their sporting code. This year saw more than 40 applicants vie for the nine scholarships.

Scholarship manager Mike Dudson says once again the High Performance Academy has assembled a group of very talented and motivated athletes.

'They came from a pool of quality applicants, which meant some really difficult decisions. It is a real privilege to able to support our local talent.”

National Coaching Director at Squash New Zealand Dave Clarke was the guest speaker at the awards and was 'thrilled with the calibre of the athletes.”

'It's fantastic that the Bay of Plenty Polytechnic provides these scholarships to enable High Performing Athletes to continue to study and train in the Bay of Plenty.

'I look forward to following their progress and successes in the months and years to come.”

Also presented at the awards ceremony was the Howie Hinton Memorial Scholarship. This annual award was presented on behalf of the Hinton family to Josena Groot, a student who emulates the qualities shown by the late Howie Hinton, a dedicated and inspirational tutor of sport and recreation programmes at BOP Polytechnic.

All scholarship winners receive their year's tertiary fees paid, access to the Polytechnic's sport and fitness centre, including performance sport testing, as well as education, sporting and lifestyle support services provided by a High Performance manager. The scholarships provide athletes with real choices as well as allowing them to balance both career and sporting aspirations.

Winners of the 2013 scholarships are:

Grace Spiers (surfing); Tauranga Boys' College ‘Old Boys' Ben Grindrod (squash), Carlos Savage (touch rugby), Marshall Gibson (wrestling), and Sam Shergold (surf lifesaving); former Mount Maunganui College students Daniel Kayes (water polo) and Tayla Blanchard (netball); former John Paul College student Natalie Hill (rowing); and Te Puke High School graduate Natalie Peat (surf lifesaving).