LIFE as a full-time athlete, and the chance to travel as well as study, has lured two North Adelaide Year 12 graduates to US colleges.
Tennis player Brooke Rischbieth and lacrosse player Rebecca Putna leave for America this month, after landing college scholarships to combine their sporting endeavours with tertiary education. Brooke, 18, is a junior Fed Cup champion who went over to the states in 2010 to play in professional tennis tournaments.
After finishing Year 12 at Wilderness School last year, she enlisted the help of the Aussie Athletes Agency – run by the former world No
2 doubles player Sandon Stolle – to find a good college in the US.
Brooke was offered six tennis scholarships and eventually decided on Northwestern University in Chicago. “When I went there it was the first time I saw snow, so it was completely different and that’s what I wanted,” she said.
“I want to be challenged and meet new people and it’s a good opportunity to be in a training environment with eight girls, trainers, physios and dietitians, which will be a wonderful stepping stone (to professional ranks).”
Rebecca, 19, has been playing lacrosse since she was five. Last month she represented the Australian under-23 team in China and
Japan. Rebecca will now continue her lacrosse career while she studies engineering at Marquette University in Wisconsin.
“I’m excited to be able to train a couple of hours every day and play every weekend, so I will see a lot of America,” Rebecca said. “It will be completely different to here, where I’m training and playing once a week.”
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