Student athletes lead the way for Australia
by Rodney Magazinovic
With
seven athletes selected to represent Australia, UniSA had the largest
contingent from any Australian university at the 2005 World University
Games held in Turkey last month.
Jennifer Screen and Cherie Smith competed in the women’s basketball competition while Renae Maycock, Sarah Choat, Shelley Scott and Heike Jensen formed the nucleus of the women’s volleyball team and Grant Richardson was a water polo representative.
The World University Games (WUG) is contested every two years. This year’s event featured 9000 athletes from 180 countries competing in 14 sports – second only to the Olympics in numbers of athletes that participate.
Having both been part of the 2 fourth placed Women’s National Basketball League Adelaide Lightning team in 2004/05, Screen (human movement graduate) and Smith (education student) made a valuable contribution to Australia’s WUG women’s basketball team which secured the bronze medal in a hard fought game against Russia. Screen, who captains the Adelaide Lightning, also led the WUG squad.
With a host of international experience including competing in the Sydney Olympics and East Asian Games, Maycock, who is studying commerce, was one of four UniSA students to be part of the women’s volleyball squad. Team mates, Choat (physiotherapy student), Scott (physiotherapy graduate) and Jensen (arts student) found the games a rewarding experience.
“The atmosphere at the games in Turkey was great, the team had a really good time,” Jensen said.
Richardson, who lives in Brisbane returned to the WUG squad after competing for Australia in the 2001 Games. Since then, the 24-year-old has been a member of the 2004 national water polo league champions, Brisbane Barracudas.
He attributed the flexibility in being able to complete his commerce and business commercial law degree at UniSA externally as an added advantage in juggling his sporting and working commitments.
“If I was based on campus with my studies, there’s no way I’d have the time to be able to play competitive water polo,” he said.
The Australian team finished with a tally of one silver and three bronze medals.