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American college shutdown putting young Kiwi athletes' plans on hold

May 2, 2020

A number of Kiwis on scholarships are facing uncertainty around their futures. (Source: Other)

The shut down of American sport due to Covid-19 has not only cost millions of dollars, but also put the lives and ambitions of young Kiwi athletes on hold.

Most Kiwi students had to return home at the end of March, before New Zealand went into lockdown. However with the USA one of the countries hardest hit by coronavirus, questions loom over whether the students will be able to return to finish their scholarships.

Under20 Football Fern Hannah Blake is one of those, unaware of when she'll be able to resume her freshman year at Michigan University.

Blake in a race against time to return to the US before the start of the new football season.

"I think my decision to come home was definitely right at the time," she tells 1 NEWS.

"But I think if I could do it again, I might have chosen to stay there."

"Our start date for pre-season is August 3. So if all goes well that would be when I'm looking to go back, but like I say it's just so hard to say.

Swimmer Andie Quirke is another Kiwi affected, no clarification given on when she'll be back to Iowa State.

"[The] plan as of August is still going ahead, at the end of the day nothing has been cancelled yet," she says.

"So I just have to go as if that is the plan."

The coronavirus shutdown is already having a drastic impact on college sport, with the cancelled NCAA 'March Madness' basketball tournament reported to have lost more than half a billion dollars. That's led to calls to cut some college sport programmes.

However, scouts are still recruiting as normal, offering scholarships for as far into the future as 2023 - coming as good news for Kiwi sports agencies.

"Since the lockdown we've had an influx of our athletes offered scholarships," Striv3 sports management's Thomas Spragg says.

"Again this period is only temporary and coaches are looking at this more in a longterm scale."

Just what those long term effects will be are yet to be seen, however many Kiwi athletes are holding on to their college sporting dreams.

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