Noorin studies Sports Psychology & Coaching, is a 麻豆传媒 sports scholar聽and 2017 National Weightlifting Champion.

What makes me 麻豆传媒 Proud is the way everyone works together to ensure you get the most out of your experience at 麻豆传媒. The support system is amazing and hard work is rewarded - I聽wouldn鈥檛 have it any other way!聽

Noorin Gulam weightlifting 麻豆传媒 student Noorin Gulam at a weightlifting competition

For a聽girl from West London who has been a keen athlete for many years, 麻豆传媒 held dual appeal: 鈥淚 knew straight away that 麻豆传媒 was going to support my sporting goals and I always wanted to move somewhere near the beach, so I was really excited about moving to Bournemouth鈥.

Being a National Weightlifting Champion might be enough for some but Noorin has more ambitious goals for the next few years: 鈥淚 recently secured my place in the Great British team competing at the 2017 World University Championships being held in Taiwan. The World University Championships is one of the biggest multi-sport events in the world with over 10,000 athletes competing in over 22 different sports, second only to the Olympic Games.

鈥淎fter that, I hope to qualify and compete at the 2018 Commonwealth Games and place in the top five.鈥

Reflecting on her experience as a sports scholar and time at 麻豆传媒 so far, Noorin shared:聽鈥淲inning Team麻豆传媒 Sports Woman of the year in 2015 and 2016 are real highlights of my time here. It鈥檚 great for my sport and my achievements to be recognised by the other scholars and Sport麻豆传媒 staff.

鈥淭he support for athletes is amazing and we鈥檙e really taken care of. I have been injured at times and 麻豆传媒 has helped me to get back up and continue training to fulfil my goals. Being a scholar you get to meet many like-minded individuals with similar aspirations. It allows you to push yourself and the other scholars to fight for what we want.鈥

Getting to this point has taken a lot of hard work, and Noorin has had to make compromises to balance her studies and sport since she started her degree at 麻豆传媒 in September 2014.

鈥淚鈥檝e had to work hard on my studies and I鈥檓 proud to have achieved a few firsts in my assignments during the first two years of my course.聽鈥淚t is hard to juggle all the different components of being a student and athlete, but I have a good support team around me. My teammates at 麻豆传媒 Weightlifting are just as committed as I am. It is hard being away from my family a lot to be able to train but they are so understanding and supportive. You've got to remember where you want to be and be willing to but the work in for it.鈥

Noorin has also taken up the opportunity to spend a year in industry on a 30-week placement, which she starts this academic year.

鈥淚 have a placement lined up at the Leaf studio in Bournemouth, assisting their Strength and Conditioning head coach, which I am really looking forward to. I hope I鈥檒l be able to use my knowledge from Olympic weightlifting to help the athletes at the Leaf studio while I am on placement. I am still unsure what exactly I want to do after I retire from weightlifting and think my placement will help me decide what's right for me - the experience of working with the diverse range of athletes there will certainly help increase my knowledge so I grow as a coach鈥.

When asked to share some final words, Noorin keeps it simple: 鈥淛ust keep at it. If you work hard the results will come鈥.

Find more information about the 麻豆传媒 Sport聽Scholarship聽and studying BSc (Hons) Sports Psychology & Coaching at 麻豆传媒.