2016 Scholarship Recipient Alaynah Bettany
Congratulations to Alaynah Bettany - 2016 WHiPA Lloyd Morrison Aquatics Athlete scholarship recipient!
Alaynah is 15 years old and attends St Catherine’s college. She has belonged to Lyall Bay Surf Life Saving Club since she was 6 years old when her mother made her join after a close encounter her older sister, and thought they needed to learn more about the ocean and how to stay safe.
A talented athlete, Alaynah has played volleyball, netball and represented Wellington in rugby, but has now chosen to focus on surf life saving. Competitive Surf Life Saving includes swimming, paddle boards, single ski (boat), running, and pool events like obstacles and manikin rescue offering lots of challenges and skill diversity for Alaynah.
At the SLS National Pool Champs 2015 Alaynah medalled in most events and also won gold this year with her surf team at the national beach competition. She now trains 12 times a week 3-5 hours per day from the end of May - beginning of April.
Alaynah has been selected to be a part of the NZ Junior Black Fins squad at the Surf Life Saving World Rescue Juniors in the Netherlands in September 2016 to compete against 40 other countries.
Alaynah says she “really enjoy traveling around the country with the team, seeing new places and getting to meet new people” and that” my dream was to make the Black Fins world’s team, now I’m hoping to bring back a medal!”
