Bernice Cullen
BERNICE Cullen is not the best at prioritising.
Her love of sport often lands higher on the priority list than homework or recovering from her injuries, but that unrelenting attitude has seen her set records and take home medals.
Although the 17yearold is involved in a variety of sports, such as cricket, touch, tennis and squash, her main passions are athletics and netball.
She started them both when she was about 5 and has loved them both since.
At first she started off doing every athletics event, but along the way honed in on long jump and triple jump.
‘‘There’s something about flying through the air into the long jump pit. It’s just so cool.’’
She also focused on netball, as she found it the perfect contrast to the individual style of athletics.
With athletics the responsibility was all on her, but the satisfaction of victory was all hers too.
Netball was a team sport and she could rely on others and celebrate wins as a group.
This year she was selected along with 84 others throughout the country to attend the Netball NZ national development camp to help develop her skills.
Despite her urge to train, Bernice was constantly battling her body’s need to rest.
About two years ago she tore a muscle under her calf which never healed, which was a factor in a stress fracture that developed in her tibia this year.
At times she struggled to participate in events due to the injuries.
During a national triple jump event this year, she was in pain and started the event with two nojumps and one poor jump.
She knew she should pull out, but due to a lack of numbers she was given another set of jumps and could not say no. ‘‘I . . . just knew I wanted to do better.’’ By pushing past the pain she set a new personal best in triple jump and received championship medals for both triple jump and long jump.
She planned to use that drive to pursue a career in the sports industry by studying physical education and nutrition at the University of Otago.
Achievements: Athletics Otago secondary school female athlete of the year (2022); NZ U20 long jump champion (2022); NZ U20 triple jump champion (2022); Otago academy of sport (2022); St Hilda’s long jump record (2021, 2022); Netball NZ NDC (2022), Dunedin U18 team (2021, 2022); Steel Steps Accelerator programme (2021); St Hilda’s sports overall senior champion cup (2021); South Island 1st long jump, 3rd triple jump (2021); Otago secondary schools U19 long jump record (2021); St Hilda’s senior A netball team (2021, 2022); St Hilda’s netball coach (2021, 2022); Academic blue (2020); netball liaison (2022). Role model: Former New Zealand netball player Bernice Mene, whom she was named after.
Hopes for the future: To study physical education and nutrition at the University of Otago.