Paralympic athlete Evan O’Hanlon is aiming to qualify for the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games while completing a degree in landscape architecture at the same time to prepare him for a professional career outside sport.

Four AIS athletes, Evan O’Hanlon (Paralympic athletics); James Roberts (swimming); Max Staples and Greg Sukochev (volleyball) have been supported by the AIS Athlete Career Education (ACE) program to pursue their studies at the University of Canberra.  They spoke of their experiences at an ACE/UC ‘Strengthening Relationships’ event earlier this week.

The AIS ACE program hosted the event to provide UC academic staff with a greater understanding of the AIS high performance environment and the demanding training, travelling and competition pressures placed on elite athletes.

The ACE program assists elite athletes to manage their sport and life goals through integrating study, work and training as well as preparing them for life after sport.

More than 20,000 Australian elite athletes have been able to access the services provided by the ACE program since its inception in 1994.

AIS ACE has been working closely with the University of Canberra (UC) to offer more flexible learning opportunities for elite athletes, coaches and high performance personnel.

The University of Canberra is one of 39 Australian universities now involved in the Elite Athlete Friendly University (EAFU) Network launched in 2004.  This year more than 70 elite athletes, 40 per cent being AIS scholarship holders are studying a variety of degree courses at UC including Sports Management; Graphic Design; Education and Public Health.

Greg Sukochev, who debuted for the Australian Men’s Volleyball Team in 2009 and was a member of the 2012 Australian Olympic Team, recently completed a Bachelor of Science at UC and is now considering undertaking post graduate studies in physics.

James Roberts, also a member of the 2012 Australian Olympic Team and currently ranked number three in the world in 100m Freestyle, is studying Advertising/Marketing Communication at UC.

Max Staples debuted for the Australian Men’s Volleyball Team this year at the 3rd AVC Cup in Thailand while studying for a Bachelor of Applied Science degree (Human Biology) at UC.

Evan O’Hanlon, a sprinter who won two gold medals and broke two world records at the London Paralympics, is studying landscape architecture at UC with a view to working in his parents’ architecture practice after the 2016 Olympics.

All of the athletes said the support of the ACE program and the flexibility of subject delivery offered by UC were vital in allowing them to combine elite sport training with study.

UC Vice-Chancellor Professor Stephen Parker, who attended the ACE event, said UC was committed to the AIS ACE program and aimed to be the ‘strongest university in Australia in sport-related study and research.’