TWO young footballers aspiring to play at the top level have been awarded scholarships by La Trobe University’s Mildura campus.
Both players are part of the Bendigo Pioneers’ Sunraysia Satellite Program and are set to receive $1000 from the higher education institution, which is also the team’s naming rights sponsor.
The recipients of the scholarship are two Year 11 students, Lottie Adams and Bohdi Edwards, who currently play in the Coates Talent League as part of the Pioneers boys and girls squads.
The scholarships were presented by La Trobe’s Mildura Head of Campus, Sandy Connor, as a way of acknowledging the pair’s exceptional commitment to sport and the families that support them.
Connor said the university wants to support local students who face unique challenges due to the region’s isolated location.
“The scholarships are the campus’s way of supporting students from Mildura like Bohdi and Lottie, who have worked really hard to get into the Pioneers program,” she said.
“But because of the distance they live from Bendigo and all the places where the Pioneers play, it makes it really difficult for them to actually get to games.
“They just have a lot bigger hurdles that they have to jump through to achieve the same thing.”
The scholarship will go towards helping cover costs associated with travel, training, equipment, and accommodation.
Adams made her Coates League debut at 14 and is now part of the leadership group for the Under 18 Pioneers girls said the money is a welcome relief.
“I’m pretty stoked, you know, being able to get that extra money just to help out with obviously fuel, accommodation, food,” she said.
“Just to help mum and dad out, be a bit more comfortable, take some of the working pressure off I guess.”
Adams represented Victoria Country at the 2024 Marsh AFL National Championships and travels up to 1500 kilometers some weeks to attend games in places like Melbourne, Gippsland, and Wangaratta.
Despite being a long way from the majority of professional women’s football pathway hubs in Victoria, she said her focus lies on making it as far as possible in the sport.
“Obviously I want to try and make AFLW but mainly just to try and get as far as I can go and then be happy with whatever happens,” she said.
“I need to keep obviously working alongside my coaches and teammates, keep pushing myself each training each week and then just hope for the best.”
Edwards is a part of the Pioneers Under 18s boys team as well as a regular in the Wentworth Roos senior squad now he has returned from injury.
He said the scholarship would ease the pressures of injuries, travel, and rising football related expenses.
“Yeah it’s really exciting, being privileged with this after the injuries and travel,” he said.
“It really helps especially when going to locations in Bendigo and playing in Melbourne.
“It just helps out with everything, travel and costs for the injury.”
Edwards credited his family for their dedicated assistance and said that the scholarship would go a long way in easing their responsibility,
“I just rely on the parents, they sacrifice a lot,” he said. “A lot of school has been missed, a lot of weekends off and I don’t get to spend as much time with mates.”
Connor said backing students like Adams and Edwards was about helping them overcome geographic and structural disadvantages while pursuing sporting professionalism.
“They don’t get to go to the trainings that the rest of the team get to as well so it’s a way of actually trying to make it a little bit more equitable,” she said.
“We all know that the kids in our region, our town, are as talented as anywhere else in the state.”
