Students recognised for their dedication to performance sports
College of Medical and Dental Sciences students competing at the top of their game will now be able to receive a sporting bursary.
The University of Birmingham’s College of Medical and Dental Sciences is launching a new ‘Elite and Performance Sports Award’ that will support students studying courses such as Medicine, Biomedical Sciences, Dentistry, Nursing, Midwifery or Pharmacy, who also excel at sports to achieve their full potential.
The bursary aims to assist high-performance athletes at undergraduate or postgraduate level recognising that continuing their high flying sporting career while at University carries a cost. The awards are a recognition that looks to offset some of the costs, be that travel, equipment or other expenses.
The awards are to congratulate our top elite and performance sports competitors, to recognise their dedication and to thank these students for being tremendous ambassadors for our University and its cutting-edge position in UK sport. It is important and their efforts are very much valued.
Students studying within the College who compete at first team level in one of the University’s designated ‘Performance sports’ – namely, hockey, squash, athletics, swimming, badminton, rugby or netball – at a National or International level will be eligible to receive a £500 annual award. Any students who are part of the University’s Elite Dual Career Athlete Pathway (EDCAP) will receive a £1000 annual award.
Fifth year dental student, Yasmin, part of the Team GB Judo squad for eight years, has received an elite award. She has won eight British Championships, along with medals from two European Championship and several European Cups. In 2022 she won a Bronze medal at the Commonwealth Games, an experience she describes as ‘incredible’ especially since the competition was here in Birmingham.
“I've had my heart set on Birmingham since I was in secondary school. We're so lucky at the dental hospital to have access to the incredible new facilities that we do and access to some incredible leading clinicians in their specialty areas. The facilities were such a draw and then the support you get from the scholarship team as an athlete was just the cherry on top” explains Yasmin.
Yasmin has been well supported by the scholarships team throughout her undergraduate studies, both financially but also in terms of timetabling and wellbeing, but is delighted to receive recognition for her efforts through the College’s new ’Elite and Performance Sports Award’.
A lot of my spare money goes into judo and training etc. I don't really have a lot of money leftover to be able to fund my progression in the dentistry world. I think I will use this award to focus on my studies, perhaps to attend dental conferences and things that I might have missed out on in the years that I've spent focusing so much on Judo. I will help me to keep a nice steady balance.
“University of Birmingham Sport is delighted that the College of Medical and Dental Sciences has launched these awards to support some of the University’s most talented athletes. They will play an important role in supporting these incredibly dedicated student-athletes towards their dual career pursuits of excelling within both their academia and sport,” says Hugh Sproston, Sport Scholarships Manager.
Professor Hanley hosted a celebration event last week to launch the awards and to congratulate the initial cadre of awardees:
Elite:
- Yasmin Javadian – Judo
- Katie Mole – Rowing
Performance:
- Michael Ward – Athletics
- Freya Bennett – Athletics
- Kate Willis – Athletics
- Ellen Weir – Athletics
- Elisha Tait – Athletics
- Saskia Millard – Athletics
- Elsa Palmer - Athletics
- Ruchika Madhotra – Badminton
- Prabhav Bhamidipati – Badminton
- Lucy Attewell – Badminton
- Emily Easton – Badminton
- Hannah Atkinson – Hockey
- James Cross – Hockey
- Alex Greenaway – Hockey
- Ailsa Naylor – Hockey
- Lotty Hodson – Hockey
- Jess Davis – Hockey
- Ben Forsey – Hockey
- Ruth Hughes – Netball
- Charlotte Daley – Rugby
- Charlotte Harris – Swimming
- Laura McNab - Swimming