Female sports stars on elite development programme

Abertay University is leading the way in support for top level female athletes with women making up more than 80% of the intake for this year’s Elite Athlete Development Programme (EADP).

As the programme kicks off this year, the University is celebrating an array of outstanding student success stories such as hockey star Katie Robertson, who was this month called up to the senior Great Britain hockey training squad.

The BSc Sport and Psychology student from Fife will be proving her worth against members of the same team that took the UK’s first Olympic hockey gold medal in Rio last year.

Abertay’s EADP exists to provide students with the skills and expertise necessary to successfully incorporate a heavy load of training and competition while undertaking their academic programme.

Others on the list this year include Rebecca Norval (3rd year Sport and Psychology) who competes for Great Britain in equestrian vaulting and captain of the Swedish Women’s Rugby Team Emilia Kristiansson (3rd year Sport anmd Exercise), who also works at Abertay as a gym instructor.

Weightlifter Marcelle Brown (1st year Sport and Exercise) is also on the EADP, alongside wheelchair basketball athlete Gemma Lumsdaine (1st year Sport and Exrcise), who was appointed to the Scottish Women and Girls in Sport Advisory Board at the start of this month.

Scottish track star Niamh Guest (2nd year Sport and Exercise) and Great Britain ice hockey player Elizabeth Milne (3rd year Food, Nutrition and Health) are on the programme, as is hockey player Katie Stott (1st year Biomedical Science) and Scottish football international Amy Gallacher (2nd year Sport and Exercise).

Two male hockey internationals, Aiden McQuade and Cameron Golden, who was recently selected for Great Britain, take up the remaining spots.

Abertay Sports Development Officer Mike Devlin said it was pleasing to see so many female athletes rising to the top of their sports.

He added: “Mixing full-time study with a heavy training and competition workload can prove challenging and that’s why we work hard to make sure our Abertay elite athletes receive all the support they require.

“We provide students with the skills and expertise necessary to succeed academically while allowing enough time to incorporate their elite sport commitments.

“Year after year we are seeing our athletes competing on the international scene while getting positive coursework results, and that is testament to the strength of the EADP.”

For information on courses offered by the Division of Sport and Exercise Sciences visit https://www.abertay.ac.uk/discover/academic-schools/social-and-health-sciences/sport-and-exercise-sciences/