Final call for applications to NUI Galway sports scholarship scheme
NUI Galway has issued a final call for applications to its Sports Scholarships Scheme for 2012/13, with the deadline for current and prospective students set for Monday 31 July at 5pm.
The programme is aimed at student athletes of outstanding calibre who register as students of the university, which has a long tradition of sport enhanced by recent success in rowing, hurling, basketball, soccer and rugby, among others.
In the current academic year, the university says its student athletes received “significant financial and professional support services” to help “aspiring young sportspeople to continue to develop their sporting prowess”.
Currently over 60 students receive support under the scheme in a broad range of sports.
Applicants for sports scholarships must satisfy the academic criteria for entry to NUI Galway and must have applied to the CAO in the usual manner. Students will be selected on merit by an independent panel.
In addition to the scholarship, students will receive specialist support including physiotherapy, treatment of injury, fitness training, coaching and support for travel to national and international competitions.
“Our aim is to help our scholarship athletes develop as a student and as a sportsperson,” says Gary Ryan, elite sports development officer at NUI Galway. “We are not rewarding for past successes, rather trying to prepare our students for future achievement.”
A former Irish Olympian and record-breaking sprinter, Ryan sees a bright future for the NUI Galway sports scholarships.
“Our efforts in developing a high performance sports environment in NUI Galway have already shown significant success with a large number of our sports scholarship students representing county and national teams.
“We are especially proud of those individuals that have excelled on the international stage, including Irish Olympian hopefuls at London 2012, Paul Hession and Olive Loughnane.”
Ryan adds: “All of these achievements have been secured by students who are also receiving a world class education and being supported by the scheme to meet the challenges of these dual goals.”
More details on the sports scholarship scheme are available on the NUI Galway Sports website at sports.nuigalway.ie.
