A Sweet Gig

Well done to old boy Finlay Neeson on securing a US College Scholarship which will help further his skiing career. We have been trying to think of other old boys who have gone the College Scholarship route but can't come up with too many. Leave us a comment if you know of any one.

New Plymouth's Finlay Neeson has secured a four-year United States university scholarship that will allow him to pursue his sporting dream.

The 20-year-old left on Sunday to take up a scholarship worth about $180,000 at Sierra Nevada College. It will allow him to compete in alpine ski racing and study fulltime for a degree in finance.

"All my fees and skiing are paid for, it's a pretty sweet gig," he said.

Neeson will ski for the university and as a recognised up-and-coming athlete in the States, he can achieve more than in New Zealand.

With no funding from Snowsports New Zealand, skiing from a Taranaki base has become unsustainable.

"Thanks to the scholarship, I can ski and get an education at the same time," he said. "I'll race for New Zealand on the North American Cup circuit, which is racing between Canada and America at a level just below the World Cup. With my college base, I can still race in international events."

Neeson said he would be based at Incline Village near Lake Tahar.

"There's mountains all around. I can train from 7 to 10 every day before school and train on the weekends as well."

Neeson said he would probably return home during the mid semester break at Christmas and would be home for the winter ski season in New Zealand during the university summer holidays.