To be selected for the Illawarra Academy of Sport (IAS), you have to be considered an elite athlete in your sporting code.
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And Highlander Ben Whyte has proved he has plenty of talent, after he was selected for a 12 month rugby union scholarship with the IAS.
The IAS program runs out of the Wollongong University and concentrates on youth aged between 13 and 17.
Sports covered in the scholarship are, rugby union, AFL, hockey, netball and golf.
Ben said he was pleased to receive the scholarship and believed it would help him improve his game.
“I’m quite happy on receiving my scholarship,” he said.
“It’s going to be such a positive on my game.”
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While his workload will increase with the opportunity, Ben said he was excited about the challenge.
“Extra training is always good for my game,” he said.
“I really like training and it’s hopefully it’s going to pay off.”
Ben said he was selected for the scholarship through his rep club.
“Basically, you get selected through your representative rugby club,” he said.
“I thankfully got selected to try out and I got in.”
Ben said while expected the scholarship trials to be a bit daunting, they weren’t as intimidating as he first thought.
“They weren’t really hard,” he said.
“It was more skills, technique and basics stuff.”
Over the next 12 months, Ben said there would be plenty of training ahead for him and possible some trial matches.
“I’ll be mostly training over these next 12 months,” he said.
“I’ll also be focusing on my fitness levels and hitting the gym quite regularly.
