Athletes selected for a 2012-13 Winning Students sports scholarship will be confirmed in September – and one sport is already reaping the benefits of its support.

Scholarship support from Winning Students has led to the creation of the Scottish FA National Women’s Performance Centre at the University of Stirling – providing tailored training and sports science support for 14 students.

Many of those students have now broken into the first team squad and in Scotland’s last outing, an International Challenge Match away to Poland on 9 May, five Winning Students featured, with Jane Ross and Lisa Evans amongst the scorers in a 3-1 win.

According to Scotland Women’s National Football Coach Anna Signeul, this success owes much to the scholarship support.

She said: “The National Performance Centre has been a huge success and without Winning Students, we would not have been able to do it. We can see the proof of how well it is working with the progress of the players who have done fantastically well.

“Winning Students has been the catalyst, along with support from the University of Stirling, for us to keep our best players in the country. We are delighted by this as we feel the programme at the National Performance Centre and the further work being done at club level provides a great platform to progress players to the senior national team.

“Players at the Centre and based at other colleges and universities around Scotland have been able to use the funding support to balance their study and football. It is important they get the opportunity to complete their studies as even if they then go into a professional career in football, they have the degree to help them when they move into their working life.”

There are currently more than 125 students studying across 31 member colleges and universities receiving Winning Students support. Football is one of nine core sports, alongside: badminton, golf, hockey, judo, orienteering, squash, swimming and triathlon.

For these sport, students are put forward for a 2012-13 scholarship by their governing bodies and do not apply directly.

Students who applied for a 2012-13 Individual Scholarship – for students in non-core sports - have received a response to their nomination and will be officially confirmed in September.

For more details on the selection process and timeline, visit: 
www.winningstudents-scotland.ac.uk/selection