Meet Naomi Tucker, a Speech Pathology (Honours) student from UQ and a skilled skipping competitor for Australia. Since the young age of five, she’s been jumping ropes and travelling the world, representing Australia in competitive skipping.

Naomi explained her passion for the sport, “I love skipping because it is so different to other sports, there is so much variety. It just continues to evolve because it is a new sport.”

In recent years Naomi has turned her attention to achieving academic goals alongside her globe-trotting passion. Thankfully The University of Queensland offers exceptional opportunities for student-athletes to perform at their peak while gaining a world-class education. The UQ Sport team assists elite athletes in balancing their dual careers in sport and study through access to a range of services in the UQ Sport Elite Athlete Program.

“I feel privileged to be part of the Elite Athlete Program. It certainly made a difference in being able to manage sporting and university commitments. Academically wise, I am trying to do well in my studies.”

“I really made use of the wellbeing sessions, which helped with everything getting hectic in the semester. Using the gym and meeting other athletes going through a similar phase has been nice to connect.”

“The UQ Sport staff has been amazing in assisting with assessments, getting little modifications when I’ve had competitions. As well as supporting me all the way through my studies, they’ve been really helpful in enabling me to manage it and also giving me skills to manage it on my own as well as stepping in when I need them to.”

Elite Athlete Program Officer Toby Nolan works at UQ Sport and said, “Our holistic approach to our program provides athletes with a broad range of support services. We currently facilitate 47 different sports and I love being able to assist athletes in achieving their academic and sporting goals.”

Learn more about the services and benefits of being part of the Elite Athlete Program and UQ Sporting Scholarships.