Gifted sportsmen and women celebrate success

20 February 2009

Sports stars - several of whom have their sights set on competing in the 2012 Olympics - have been given a boost in their quest for glory by Glyndŵr University.

11 sportsmen and women have been given sport award packages by the University to allow them to pursue their sport whilst studying for a degree.

All receive free use of university facilities, sports kit and sports science support as part of their awards.

Amongst the recipients of five sports scholarships is swimmer Lowri Tynan, a Decorative Arts Student, who was a 50m breaststroke finalist at the 2006 Commonwealth Games and is hoping to break into the British Olympic squad.

Sam Chamberlain, a Sport and Exercise Sciences student, has also been awarded a scholarship. His recent achievements include participating at the World and European Deaf Swimming Championships (2007). Sam is currently in the Welsh squad and is working towards being selected for Great Britain’s Deaf Olympic Swim team, who are competing in Taiwan this year.

Glyndŵr University’s scholars, bursars and awardees were present at a celebratory Sport Scholarship Luncheon held in the University’s Restaurant 1887.

The event was hosted by a very proud Professor Michael Scott, Vice Chancellor of Glyndŵr University, and the Very Reverend Peter Francis, chair of the Sports Award Committee.

Kirsty Percival, Student and Community Sports Development Officer at Glyndŵr University, paid tribute to the commitment and hard work that all the students had shown to both their studies and their sport.

She said: “It’s a pleasure to work with athletes of such a high calibre. The purpose of the awards is to assist the students in balancing their academic and sporting needs. A lot of the awardees have tremendous commitment to their sport which takes up a lot of their time.

“Our role at Glyndŵr University is to support them by providing facilities to help with their training and by providing mentor support - there’s high quality fitness testing equipment for them to use at the Human Performance Lab and we are here to help support their sport, lifestyle and study balance.”

Other students receiving awards for 2008/09 included the first recipient of Glyndŵr University’s newly-established Basketball Award; two such awards are available each academic year to talented basketball players, coaches or managers. This year only one awardee received this prestigious honour, Spaniard Pau Feline Orive.

Two Hockey Awards are also available following the same criteria as the basketball award. One of the two Hockey Awardees was Lorrisa Turner, final year Sport & Exercise Sciences student, who received her award for her coaching and management attributes as well as representing Welsh University Hockey in 2008. The second awardee was a French student from the North Wales School of Art and Design, Emile Reynaud, who is an up-and-coming elite hockey player.

Scholarships (multisport awards) were awarded to, along with Lowri and Sam, Welsh athlete Gawain Rogers, who competes in pentathlon, high jump and triple jump, Jocelyn Gleave, who competes in European eventing, and Chris Moss, who represents North Wales in cricket.

Sports bursaries were awarded to students who are at a development stage in their sport. Recipients included hockey player Cerys Bills, cyclist Miles Jenkins and rugby union player Peter Dickinson.

See full information on sports scholarships and bursaries awarded by Glyndŵr University.