Golden girl Kat meets Teesside’s future champions

Olympic rowing champion Kat Copeland met aspiring sports stars of the future at Teesside University.

Kat, who won Olympic gold in the women’s lightweight double sculls at London 2012, visited Teesside University to meet some of the high calibre athletes supported through its Elite Athlete Scheme.

The Elite Athlete Scheme is for athletes at international level or with exceptional international potential. The athletes have access to state of the art equipment and expertise, with support ranging from physiological and biomechanical assessment, strength and conditioning, physiotherapy and sports psychology. Financial support is also available to enable greater access to training and competition.

Kat, 21, spoke to some of the students involved in the scheme, sharing insight into her rowing career and experience of winning an Olympic gold medal.

She said: 'The University has top class facilities, which I’ve used for training in the past and it’s great to come back. It’s really important to have schemes such as this, to show young athletes that they can excel and come from this area and be at the top of their game and win medals.'

Kat, who trains at Tees Rowing Club with Elite Athlete Jo Wratten, said: 'I know how hard it is to do sport and university at the same time and the Elite Athlete Scheme is perfect as it allows people to excel both at sport and academically.

'Teesside has the facilities, staff and potential athletes to have world class performers. We have so much talent coming from this region and I think it’s brilliant if we can all get behind it.'

Jo, who is studying English at Teesside University, said: 'Having someone like Kat to train with is really inspirational, she’s a real role model for everyone she trains with, which is really good for the younger athletes coming through. The Elite Athlete Scheme provides so much support and my long term goal is the Olympics.'

Among the University’s other Elite Athletes is women’s footballer Jess Round, 18, a BSc (Hons) Sport and Exercise (Applied Exercise Science) student.

Jess, who plays for Middlesbrough and England Ladies U19s, said: 'I decided to study at Teesside largely due to the greater career opportunities I feel it would lead to within sport.

'My ambition is to play for England U20s in the 2014 World Cup and then go on to represent the senior side. Teesside University’s facilities are brilliant and the scheme will provide a lot of support to improve all aspects of my game.'

Matthew Wright, Sports Development Officer for Elite Sport, in the University’s Student Services, said: 'The Elite Athletes represent the growing quality of sportsmen and women at the institution and with state of the art facilities and expertise here on Teesside, these are exciting times for performance sport.'

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