Triathlete Hannah Knighton has started a placement with Research, Evaluation and Analytics consultancy Scarlatti, rower Catherine Layburn will join private hospital Mercy Ascot, netballer Kimiroa Poi has begun her internship with Te Rūnanga o Ngā Maata Waka (Urban Māori Authority for Te Waipounamu/South Island) and sailor Greta Pilkington will join architect firm Jasmax.
Hannah Knighton was the first of the cohort to start her placement and she and her employer, Karen Mitchelmore of Scarlatti share their initial thoughts on the internship programme.
According to Hannah, her year-long internship with Scarlatti is proving to be a very different environment to high performance sport.
“I love it,” says Hannah. “I enjoy challenging myself in different ways and putting the skills I learned during my Bachelor of Science (Data Analytics and Human Performance Science) and Master of Health, Sport and Human Performance (First Class Honours) degrees into practice and seeing how much further I can develop.
“It is really enjoyable having chunks of my day not focussed on swim, bike, run. And it has really benefited my training to be able to switch off from sport.”
Hannah also says the internship provided an important way to channel her energies when she was diagnosed with a stress fracture a week before she started at Scarlatti. “It was great to have the outlet when I wasn’t able to train and I believe it has helped me get through the injury quicker and more easily.”
Principal and Lead of the Monitoring and Evaluation team at Scarlatti, Karen Mitchelmore, says her company was more than happy to join the PM’s Scholarship internship initiative when they were approached by HPSNZ programme lead Hannah McLean.
“We are always looking for great people to join our team and the information about the programme and its benefits certainly sold us on it,” says Karen.
“Already the internship with Hannah (Knighton) has given us a real insight into an athlete’s world, and what it takes to train and compete at that level.”
“The characteristics that she exhibits enable her to excel in her sport, they also translate really well into a work environment, and, in our case, work with the Scarlatti team.
Like many of the internship programme employers, Karen says flexibility is key to making it work for both athlete and employer.
“We had the conversation with Hannah very early on about what would work for her and what would work for us. She works three consecutive days a week which provides good continuity for us, while enabling her time to train and it is great to have another person in our Hamilton office.
Karen is full of praise for the HPSNZ internship programme process. “It was very easy and seamless. HPSNZ did all the heavy lifting at their end and we have been able to benefit from having a terrific addition to our team.”
Check out the latest PM’s Scholarship internship case study with para athlete Sionann Murphy and her employer Nicky James from early childhood centre, Tree House.
If you are an athlete interested in applying for a PM’s Scholarship internship or an employer interested in being involved, please contact HPSNZ PM’s Scholarship internship programme lead, Hannah McLean.
