Rower Catherine Layburn had applied for an internship as part of her transition out of high performance sport. A transition she had hoped would start to happen after Paris.
“The end of my high performance career came sooner than expected after I suffered badly with long COVID-19,” says Catherine.
“When it became clear I wouldn’t make it to Paris I had to look at my options, one of which and the one which was my internship with Mercy Ascot Hospital.”
The internship was a good fit for Catherine who had completed degrees in Pharmacology and is in the procwss of completing a Masters of Science in Society.
HPSNZ’s PM Scholarship Internship lead, Hannah McLean, helped Catherine navigate the process and very quickly she discovered finding a new purpose and passion to fill her sporting gap wasn’t so hard.
“I was a bit nervous when I first started at Mercy Ascot. For the first time in a long while I was a newbie. But there was also real excitement and everyone there helped make the transition really easy.”
“What has been fantastic so far is the way I’ve been able to explore projects in hospital and pharmacy management, an area I’m particularly interested in.
“In sport I was used to working hard towards goals as part of a team and setting high standards on and off the water. I’ve been able to transfer and translate attributes from sport to business. I’ve also had to be brave enough to speak up, to share and to listen.”
GM of People and Culture for Healthcare Holdings, the of parent company of Mercy Ascot, Merran Anderson says it was a no brainer for them to have Catherine as an intern.
“We had a fantastic previous PM’s Scholarship intern, sailor Alex Maloney, and so when we were approached about Catherine we knew immediately it was something we wanted to do.
“Our philosophy is to transform healthcare and ensure people are able to access better journeys. There is such a strong synergy in purpose with the PM Scholarship programme.
“Because of her background in pharmacology and her interest in business management, we were able to slot Catherine into a team seamlessly. In three weeks she was picking up tasks that we had expected would take her at least three months to be ready for, and not just picking them up but outperforming.”
High performance athletes have an extra element of character according to Merran. “We have learned a lot from both Catherine and Alex, from their work ethic and attitude.
“The way the internship is funded means we receive a strong contribution to the intern’s salary. Also the soft skills such as integrating into the team, getting involved in the social side of the business are very beneficial to Mercy Ascot and to Catherine.
“We will definitely take another PM’s Scholarship intern if the opportunity arises,” says Merran.
Instead of being on the plane to Paris, Black Ferns Sevens player Shiray Kaka was recovering from a serious knee injury which happened in an Olympics lead up tournament.
Shiray had been providing social media content for Sky Sport however the PM’s Scholarship internship provided an opportunity to expand into a role working with the Crowd Goes Wild, sourcing, scripting, visualising and delivering stories for broadcast.
Like Catherine, Shiray says the internship was an important distraction after her injury. “It meant I didn’t have too much time to be sad, I had to get straight into reporter mode and deliver stories.
“The Sky Sport producers give me an event to go to and then I do the prep, get the interview footage and package the content up to go to air.
“I think being an elite athlete has really helped especially in understanding what an athlete is comfortable, or uncomfortable, talking about. I aim to see the human being behind the black jersey which hopefully resonates with viewers.”
Sport Creative Manager for Sky Sport, Ross Karl, says Shiray was already delivering very good social media content from Sevens tournaments in the leadup to the Olympics. The role generating content for Crowd Goes Wild was a logical evolution.
“Shiray is incredibly energetic and likeable and has a great approach to life,” says Ross.
“She’s been very receptive to feedback and has a growth mindset, characteristics which many athletes have. We’ve simply helped steer her in the right direction.”
Ross says the PM’s Scholarship is helping Shiray reach her dreams and helping Sky Sport offset some costs. “The partnership with HPSNZ is cool – we have the same goals, opportunities and passions.
“We’ve ensured that Shiray’s schedule is our schedule, she is a very special talent.”
Both Catherine and Shiray say not only have their internships been a win/win for everyone, but are providing an important perspective on where they want to be in the future, in life after high performance sport.