Support for elite athletes

Unlock your sporting potential with our sports scholarships and the Sports Performance Programme.

Sports scholarships

We offer undergraduate and postgraduate sports scholarships to high-performing student athletes from a range of different sports. Awards are tailored to your specific needs to ensure you achieve academic and sporting success whilst studying here. Our sports scholarships offer financial and sporting support with the help of our dedicated Performance Sport team.

Applications for 2025-26 open on Wednesday 25 June 2025.

Learn more about the sports scholarships and how to apply.

Sports Performance Programme

If you're a recipient of a University of Southampton sports scholarship or a student on the Talented Athlete Scholarship Scheme (TASS), you'll have exclusive access to our strength and conditioning coaches.

You'll also be able to use the University's Sports Performance Centre for training sessions. The strength and conditioning rooms are fully equipped with a large selection of free weights and Olympic lifting platforms, as well as conditioning equipment and other sport-specific training equipment.

The aim of the Sports Performance Programme is to:

  • provide a specialist area for strength and conditioning training
  • devise individual, periodic programmes to maximise performance for major competitions
  • create an environment contributing to the overall athlete experience and improvement of sport-specific fitness and lifestyle changes

As well as providing strength and conditioning training for our individual elite athletes, the Sports Performance Programme staff also provide this training for selected University sports teams.

Pathway Sports

Pathway Sports is a Performance Sport initiative which allows student union sports teams to apply for additional sporting support.  We support 2 to 3 teams per year.

Learn more about our Pathway Sports awards