Team Newcastle welcomes top athletes
2 November 2022
The University’s new cohort of sports scholars began their journey to elite performance at the start of the academic year.
We have awarded our highest ever number of sports scholarships and have welcomed 202 athletes across 18 different sports.
Sports scholars receive funding towards the development of their skills and vitality, and athletes must have won representative honours at national or regional level during the preceding 12 months to qualify.
The Performance Sport Programme at Newcastle University has developed into one of the very best in the UK. Last year, We finished eighth overall in the national BUCS rankings for Sport - the University's best-placed finish ever which puts us seventh within the Russell Group Universities.
We also had 22 teams winning their respective BUCS Leagues – the University's highest-ever number of league titles in any season.
University athletes are poised to build on the successful campaign last year, which saw 48 students achieve either international honours or went on to professional contracts, supported by funding for international selection.
Our successes didn’t end with the outstanding performances of our students. Four of our alumni competed for Team GB at the Olympic games in Tokyo, with Tom Ford and James Rudkin winning bronze, while another recent graduate, Harry Glover, represented Great Britain in the Rugby Sevens.
Fraser Kennedy, Performance Sport Manager, said: “Our performance sport programme is exceptional and is well respected now throughout the UK. It is helping to attract exceptional student athletes to the University now and we hope those selected this year will drive us forward to even more success. We have such a holistic approach to the support we give our performance athletes and I know they really appreciate the support they receive from sport, their academics and the University.”