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Trinity Sports Scholars to Benefit from New Medical Care Programme

Posted on: 17 December 2015

A new medical care programme, the first of its kind in an Irish university, will directly benefit this year’s 60 sports scholarship recipients.

Established by the Orthopaedics & Sports Medicine Unit, Trinity Sport, and the Student Health Service, the health and fitness of Trinity’s high performing sports students will be assessed, monitored and treated through the new programme.

The athletes will have access to top class medical expertise to ensure that their fitness and well-being is optimised and their sporting performance maximised.  The addition of this support structure is regarded as integral to the Trinity Sports Scholarship programme. Alongside other services such as strength and conditioning, mentoring, time management advice, physiological testing and nutrition workshops, the scholarship initiative has been developed in recent years to allow students realise their sporting ambitions, alongside academic excellence.

Among the Sports scholarship recipients were (L-R) Prakash Vijayanath, Badminton, Brian Foley, Association Football, Brian Du Toit, Rugby, Sally O'Brien, Rowing, Anna May Whelan, Hockey (sitting), Darragh O'Donoghue, Hurling, Aisling Smith, Kayak, Robbie Clarke, Hockey (sitting) and Michael O'Grady, Gaelic Football.

Sixty sports scholarships were awarded across 13 sports at the recent 2015/16 awards ceremony. Supported by the Bank of Ireland, the recipients include Commonwealth Games athletes Victoria Mullin (Air Pistol) and Prakash Vijayanath (Badminton); 2nd year student Rachel O’Brien who was recently announced as Vice Captain of the Leinster U21 Hockey team; senior inter county Gaelic footballers Tiaran Daly (Fermanagh) and Michael O’Grady (Kildare); U21 All Ireland Hurling winner and 1st year, Eoghan McNamara; three of the crew who won Trinity’s first Senior IV National title in twelve years, Sally O’Brien, Aoife Leahy and Gillian Crowe; and two students from the Centre for Inclusion and Intellectual Disability, Maeve Phillips, European and World Down Syndrome swimming medallist and Fiachra Costello, minor football champion and hurling league honours recipient. 

Commenting on the importance of the Sports Scholarship Programme, Michelle Tanner Head of Sport in Trinity and President of the European Network of Academic Sports Services (ENAS) said “Trinity is immensely proud of the sporting talent and achievements of our high performing students. We are committed to providing them with the best support services and our strategic partnerships with the Bank of Ireland and the Orthopaedics & Sports Medicine Unit clearly evidences the continued development of the programme.  Sport continues to play an essential role in the totality of the student experience and our Sports Scholarship recipients are ambassadors for their peers and the college community”.

Professor Cathal Moran, Professor of Orthopaedics & Sports Medicine (2014) at Trinity and surgeon at the Sports Surgery Clinic in Santry noted “we are delighted to be working with Trinity Sport in bringing a world class system of sports medicine care to the athletes and students of Trinity College Dublin.  This programme is a first in the Irish university setting. Bringing together our Department of Orthopaedics and Sports Medicine from the School of Medicine, Trinity Sport, and the Student Health Service shall drive a critical 360 degree approach to research, education and clinical care in the field of sports and soft tissue injuries. By linking together in this way, we can not only serve our students better, but will also deliver a programme that will allow Trinity contribute in new ways to the global scientific, medical and social community”.