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Following the successful National Tertiary Hockey Championships played in Wellington earlier this week, Hockey NZ has named the NZ Universities Men's and Women's Tournament Teams for 2017.

Two university students want other young people to see the important role volunteers play in our country’s major sporting events. Claudia Raven and Amelia Morgan, both 20 years old, departed on Friday to represent New Zealand and University and Tertiary Sport NZ at the first International University Sports Federation (FISU) volunteering forum in Kazan, Russia, from July 2 to 8.

University and Tertiary Sport New Zealand is pleased to announce the appointment of Evelyn Williamson as Chef de Mission to the 2017 World University Summer Games in Taipei City, Chinese Taipei.

Held over two venues in Christchurch this month, the event attracted twice as many teams as the 2016 tournament with each fighting it out for the right to be crowned champions of New Zealand. That honour fell to sides from the City of Sails as a comparatively inexperienced University of Auckland team belied its rookie status by claiming the men’s title while AUT continued its proud record in the women’s competition with a third straight success.

An AUT Sport and Recreation student will represent New Zealand at an international volunteering forum taking place in Russia later this year. Second year student, Claudia Raven, will be the country’s only university student representative at the International University Sports Federation (FISU) volunteering conference in Kazan, Russia in July. - See more at: http://www.news.aut.ac.nz/news/2017/april/aut-student-volunteers-her-way-to-russia#sthash.aEkHClhn.dpuf

Canterbury Basketball hosted the second ever UTSNZ National Tertiary 3x3 Tournament this past weekend, with almost 50 players competing in 16 teams, as all eight New Zealand universities were represented. It wasn’t only university pride on the line, as the winning teams in each gender qualified for the World University League, and receive the airfares to cover travel to Xiamen, China in September this year.

The New Zealand women’s university team to play at the FISU Taipei 2017 World University Games in August has been announced. It will be the first time ever that New Zealand is represented in the sport of water polo at the Universiade; a very significant success that provides our players with a clear pathway, especially between youth/junior level and the senior national team

Ensuring that talented young athletes in New Zealand sport are also supported to achieve and realise their academic potential is an extremely important aspect within the New Zealand sporting landscape. Acknowledging this, Football South have recently partnered with the University of Otago and the Otago Polytechnic to provide scholarships for talented young football players who have academic aspirations. Read more here and watch out for these again in 2017.

UTSNZ is seeking two highly motivated individuals to help lead and manage the NZ University Men's and Women's Hockey Teams at the Hockey NZ Affiliates Tournament, 1-7 April 2017.

New Zealand university representative teams, Auckland University of Technology (Men’s) and the University of Auckland (Women’s), have returned home after an excellent performance at the World University 3x3 Basketball League in China.

The University of Auckland Women's and AUT Men's 3x3 Basketball teams left for China today to participate in the FISU 3x3 Basketball World University League. The WUL will take place from 21 to 23 October, 2016 in Xiamen.

One of the key objectives of the new university and tertiary sport entity UTSNZ, is to revive competitive inter tertiary sporting competitions, lift the standard of these competitions and develop pathways to international opportunities. At the heart of this are New Zealand’s tertiary students and increasingly in the world of sport, the athlete’s voice is being formally recognised in the governance structures of national sporting entities. As a result, UTSNZ has recently established the first NZ Tertiary Student Athlete Commission.

Under the new watch of University and Tertiary Sport NZ, and in a new era of inter-tertiary sport in New Zealand, the University of Auckland has been awarded the prestigious overall National Tertiary Championship Shield and been named the UTSNZ Overall National Tertiary Champion for 2016.

Hockey NZ and UTSNZ are pleased to announce the NZ Universities Men's and Women's teams to play in the 2017 HNZ Affiliates tournament in Napier next year. The teams were selected based on performance and skills shown at the UTSNZ National Tertiary Hockey Championships played in Wellington last week.

On Wednesday night Victoria University of Wellington and Victoria University of Wellington Students’ Association (VUWSA) celebrated the Victoria University Blues Awards, the highest recognition the university can give to people who have, by their sporting achievements or contribution to sport, brought credit to the university. Two students with links to UTSNZ were awarded honours. Joanah Ngan-Woo was named the Pasifika Sportsperson of the Year. While working towards completing a Bachelor of Arts at Victoria, Joanah represented Samoa as part of the Manu Sina Women’s Sevens team, and New Zealand in the World University Sevens Tournament. Joanah plays for the Oriental Rongotai Rugby Club and is a member of the Wellington Women’s Pride Rugby team.   And Brooke Walker was named the Sports Administrator of the Year. Brooke, who is completing a Bachelor of Economics and Finance, is the captain of Victoria’s Rowing Club and has been instrumental in the recent rebrand of the club. She is one of the three lead coaches for the Wellington College Rowing Club programme and the lead coach of the Wellington College Rowing Club’s junior squad. Brooke has completed two Rowing New Zealand coaching modules, and is the sole Victoria representative on the University and Tertiary Sport New Zealand Student-Athlete Commission.

In additional to UTSNZ National Tertiary Championship events, a number of Universities have their own long standing rivalries and tertiary events. The annual sporting exchange between rival agricultural universities Lincoln and Massey was recently hosted at the Manawatu campus with Massey taking out both the LA Brooks Cup and Enid Hills Memorial Trophy on Saturday.

The New Zealand University rowing team men’s pair of Corey McCaffrey and Louis van Velthooven have taken a silver medal at the 2016 World Rowing University Championships overnight. The championships in Poznan, Poland, feature the world’s top university rowers including several Olympians.

The 3rd edition of the New Zealand University Ultimate Championships was hosted by the Auckland University Ultimate Club at Colin Maiden Park from 29-30 August. The 3rd edition of the New Zealand University Ultimate Championships was hosted by the Auckland University Ultimate Club at Colin Maiden Park from 29-30 August. The 2016 tournament saw a record nine teams competing for the trophy.

Massey University have claimed the Tertiary Teams Title after some strong performances from their team against the Auckland University, Victoria University and Waikato University teams. The Squash Tertiary Teams Challenge started in 2014 and sees teams of 4 players (male, female or mixed) graded or social, who all belong to the same Tertiary Institute battling out to be the best Tertiary Team. This year the Tertiary Teams challenge was held at the North Shore Squash Club, 21 Shea Terrace, Takapuna, North Shore on the 26-27 August.

The Canterbury Women's Rugby Team has been named with a strong representation from both the University of Canterbury and Lincoln University showing the strength of university rugby in the region.

Otago Daily Times sports reporter Matt Smith talks to Otago University rower Alistair Bond about the Rio Olympics.