Young Wairarapa hockey star Daniel Juno is one of 87 talented athletes from the central North Island to receive a Prime Minister's scholarship, to go towards reaching his sporting and educational goals. The scholarship will see the recipients have their full tertiary fees paid - up to $10,000 per year. The awardswere announced and some presented at a ceremony at the New Zealand Academy of Sport in Wellington on Monday night. Juno received the first cash injection at the start of the year, and said the much-needed money will be used to pay the fees for the property evaluation and management degree he is studying for at Massey University. The Minister for sport and recreation Trevor Mallard said at the presentation on Monday night the scholarships are designed to help relieve the pressure on athletes trying to achieve sporting and academic goals at the same time. "Training to be a high performance athlete is relentless. Studying towards a tertiary qualification can provide release from the rigours of training as well as open doors to other career paths once you leave sport." he said. Juno said the scholarship would remove the pressure of adding part-time work to a schedule already busy with training and study. "I don't need to get a job now, and I don't really have time for one anyway." Juno is a member of the Wellington under-21 team, which had reached the finals at the national tournament in Mt Maunganui last week, the national train-on squad, and also plays in the National Hockey League.
