On Tuesday 23 April four Banbridge Academy pupils were presented with their Queen’s University Belfast (QUB) Future Stars Awards.  The night saw 148 of the most promising young student athletes in GAA, hockey, soccer, rugby and rowing honoured at the QUB 10^th Future Stars Awards.

The University’s annual Future Stars Awards, sponsored by McKeevers Sports, is an opportunity for Queen’s to recognise the most talented Year 11/12 student athletes across each of the University’s 5 priority sports.

Four Academy pupils were honoured among the 148 – Alyssa Somerville for her achievements in hockey, notably her recent participation with the Ireland U16 team, Isabella Copeland for her performance in rugby, reflecting her participation with Banbridge RFC and her contribution to the Ulster U16 Developmental Squad, Ruby Johnston for her season as captain of both the Ulster and Ireland U16 Hockey Teams and Sam Leslie for his performance on the Southern region RDS and his recent selection for the Ulster U16 squad.

The selection process for the event was rigorous, comprising comprehensive trials aimed at identifying the most promising young athletes and the Banbridge Academy pupils’ inclusion in this select group is a testament to their dedication, skill, and the high level of training.

The students and their parents attended a special gala event in Queen’s Whitla Hall for a celebration of school sport, and to get an insight into the University’s Academy programmes – a comprehensive support package that allows students to pursue sport and academia as dual careers at Queen’s.  The Queen’s Sports Development Team worked closely with Ulster Hockey, Ulster Rugby, Ulster GAA, NI Schools Football Association and Rowing Ireland to build programmes of activity that gave nearly 1,000 year 11 and 12 sports stars across Ulster the opportunity to catch the eye of Queen’s Sport coaches and staff.  This resulted in 148 Queen’s Future Stars awards being presented.  Huge congratulations the Banbridge Academy pupils!