25 years of Prime Minister’s Scholarships – Dr Lesley Nicol giving back to athlete health and welfare

A long time player and captain of the Silver Ferns, the Otago Rebels and Southern Sting, Lesley was able to play while completing degrees in Physiotherapy and Medicine, partly thanks to a PM’s Scholarship and latterly a PM’s Gold Scholarship.

Today, Lesley is a HPSNZ medical provider, a board member of the Sport Integrity Commission Te Kahu Raunui, medical director of the Mainland Tactix, an NZOC Selection committee member and provides medical support at Silver Ferns’ tests in Christchurch.

Note: applications for the next athlete intake for PM’s Scholarships are open from 10 to 30 November, 2025. This intake will adopt the new 2025-2028 Athlete Guidelines which will be published on the HPSNZ website, along with a refreshed portal application.

Lesley Nicol

Lesley completed her Medical degree in 2002 after having previously completed her Physiotherapy degree, both from Otago University.

This period was pretty frantic, says Lesley. “We were building up to the 2003 World Netball Champs and, concurrently, I was at the business end of my medical degree.

“The HPSNZ PM’s Scholarship enabled me to continue to study which was so influential when it came time to transition out of sport. This can be a difficult time so it was important to maintain the balance between study and sport.

“I was so aware that I needed to be prepared for the transition whether as a result of injury or retirement. The ability to study and compete as a high performance athlete developed resilience and real balance in my life.”

The demands of her netball career meant she was hugely reliant on and grateful for the support of people like Dave Gerard, the Dean of the Otago University Medical School and legendary sports administrator.

“He understood the demands on high performance athletes and helped me undertake the important hospital placements during holidays. So too the team at Southland Hospital when I was playing for the Southern Sting were very supportive of my ability to play netball while continuing my studies.”

Lesley credits her PM’s Gold Scholarship with enabling her to undertake her specialist training as a Sports and Exercise Physician and a Diploma in Athlete Career Education through Victoria University in Melbourne, with the latter proving a real asset in her current involvement in athlete welfare.

“The ability to study was helped a lot by the PM’s Scholarships and has been very influential in my long term career. And having a smaller student loan to pay off was fantastic.”