YAS awards for fantastic four

A horse rider, soccer player, musician and an athlete are the joint recipients of this month's Wodonga Council Young Achiever Scheme awards.

The talented bunch, Alexander Colgan, Buddy Randall, Tess Morrow and Billy Stewart have all received financial support to help them pursue their dreams.

Alexander is a talented athlete in the sport of running.

The 18 year old is currently ranked third in the 100 metres event (under 20 year age group) and fourth in the 200 metres event (under 20 age group).

 (Alexander is pictured in the middle.)

Alexander will travel to Brisbane and use the YAS funds to compete at the National Athletics Championships.

Our next recipient is Buddy Randall.

The 14 year old has been selected to represent Australia at the MIC Football Tournament, the biggest junior soccer tournament in the world.

His selection was following the attendance at the Barcelona FC Academy camp in Melbourne in January.

The tournament takes place in Spain next month.

Buddy will play in the under 16 squad and experience the highest level of competition in the world.

Buddy has worked hard towards his dream of being a professional soccer player and this opportunity will not only give him an experience of playing at international level, but also the chance to play before coaches and scouts from all over the world.

Our next recipient, Tess Morrow, was scheduled to go to Hastings, New Zealand to attend the Horse of the Year event, however, the city is cleaning up after a cyclone struck last month.

The 20 year old hasn’t missed out.

Tess attended the Wandin International Horse Trials at the weekend where she competed as an individual in the Three Star Class.

Tess has competed at this level twice before but not at this location.

While she didn’t get to compete overseas, a number of national and international horse riders competed which gave Tess a chance to network.

Interestingly, Tess and her older sister received their first pony which their mum purchased at the Wodonga Saleyards when Tess was just nine years old.

Tess said the YAS funding was a big help as she is studying at university and working for a catering company.

A long term goal for Tess is being recognised by the Australian selectors as a possible future Olympic athlete.

Our final recipient is Billy Stewart who has just been to the Australian National Band Championships, a prestigious event that brings together musicians of all skill levels from diverse backgrounds across Australia and worldwide to compete to be crowned champions of Australia.

 (Billy performing at the Bright Autumn Festival in 2022.)

The 14 year old will travel to Newcastle next month for the event.