FOLLOWING an appeal in The Basingstoke Extra, young stars in the area put their names forward for a new sports scholarship scheme.

Last week, eight sportsmen and women were unveiled as the lucky winners of a free full-year membership at the Queen Mary's College gym.

They will receive weekly training sessions, as well as nutritional consultation in an exciting development at the centre.

The gym received a large number of applications, but finally reduced them to eight, and the applicants came from right across the sporting spectrum, including swimming, cricket, rugby, athletics, motorcycle racing and ice hockey.

The eight chosen to benefit from this great package include swimmers Rohan Maynard and Amy Crockwell, and ice hockey duo Leanne Ganney and Matthew Jordan.

Other recipients are George Bethall, from the world of rugby, cricketer Dan Belcher, motorcycle racer Daniel Rosamund and athlete Alexis Curtis-Harris.

Both Maynard, 14, and Crockwell, 14, swim for the Basingstoke Bluefins club. This year, Maynard won four events at the Southern Counties Championships. She is a biathlete and qualified for the nationals this year.

Crockwell is fighting her way back from injury and is another county standard swimmer with great drive.

Ganney, 13, plays in the Women's Premier League for the Guildford Lightning and had trials for the Great Britain senior team this year.

Last season, Jordan, 17, played for the Telford Trojans under-19 team but was unable to find a job in the Midlands town, so he was forced to return home and this year is playing at the same level in Bracknell.

Basingstoke young rugby player Bethall, 14, has already played for Hampshire under-14s and has also had trials for London Irish.

After just a year playing cricket, Belcher, 14, has already forced his way into the Hampshire under-15 side and also plays for Old Basing in the Hampshire League.

A teenager whose sport is on two wheels is Rosamund, 15, who is currently taking part in the Aprilia RS 125 Superteens Championship around Britain.

To complete the eight is 16-year-old Curtis-Harris, a sprinter in the main with district schools 100 and 200-metre crowns to her name. She also came third at the same event for the discus.

Queen Mary's College gym manager Simon Mackmin said: "The candidates were of an extremely high standard and, with only eight spaces to award, we knew that some outstanding athletes would be disappointed.

"We are extremely happy with who we have selected. They are from very different backgrounds but all share amazing drive, determination and dedication."

First published: Monday, October 17, 2005