A Para Lioness footballer, two England U20 rugby players and aspiring Olympians in artistic swimming, judo and sailing make up the inspirational cohort of University of Bath student-athletes to be awarded sporting scholarships for the 2025-26 academic year.
Maria Slade, Diamond Ayiehfor, Tate Williams, Cara Zeidler, George Riley and Matthew Rayner will all benefit from scholarship funding to help them meet the demands of training, competing and studying at an elite level.
They follow in a long and illustrious line of high-performing student-athletes to be supported in their dual careers by alumni, friends and partners of the University of Bath since it became the first UK institution to award sporting scholarships 50 years ago.
Maria Slade, who has been awarded a Bill Whiteley Scholarship, recently helped the England Blind women’s football team finish runners-up at the 2025 IBSA World Championships in India. The Para Lionesses defeated Japan, ranked number one in the world, on penalties in the semi-final before being edged out 2-0 by defending champions Argentina in the gold-medal match.
The next major goal for Maria, who started every game when England hosted and won the Tri-Nations Cup last April, is to represent the England Blind women’s football team at the 2026 IBSA European Championships in Turkey.
Maria, who is in the fourth year of a Biomedical Sciences course, said: “I played football growing up but started to gradually lose my sight aged 14 and didn’t discover blind football until I was 19, so I am very passionate about the importance of para sport.”
The second beneficiary of a Bill Whiteley Scholarship is rugby player Diamond Ayiehfor, who is a prop for Leicester Tigers Academy and the University’s BUCS Super Rugby squad. The Accounting and Finance fresher has previously represented England U18s and is part of the U20 Elite Player Squad (EPS) for the 2025-26 season.
Joining Diamond in the U20 EPS is fellow England U18 international and University men’s 1st XV team-mate Tate Williams, who has been awarded a Hudson Powell Scholarship. The flanker, who studies Sports Management and Coaching, is part of the Harlequins Academy and made his senior debut for the club during October’s PREM Rugby Cup match against Northampton Saints.
Trendell Scholar Cara Zeidler is the latest member of the Bristol-based Aquatics GB Senior Artistic Swimming team to combine their sport with studying at the University, joining Olympic medallist Kate Shortman and European Champion Ranjuo Tomblin on the scholarship programme.
Cara, a Modern Languages (German & Italian) student, made both her Senior World and European Championship debuts this year, competing in the Tech and Free Team events, and narrowly missed out on a medal at the European Juniors, placing fourth in the Free Team rankings.
Sailer Matthew Rayner, awarded a Goldsmith Scholarship, has been competing internationally since the age of 10 and represented GB at the 420 Youth World Championships in 2024, placing seventh with Fflir Arwen.
The pair, who topped the podium at both the 420 National Championships and the RYA Youth Nationals in 2024, have recently stepped up to the 470 Fleet and placed fourth in the Olympic Classes National Ranker Autumn Series.
Matthew, who studies International Development with Economics, is hoping to compete in his first senior and U23 international 470 events in 2026 with the long-term goal being to represent Team GB at an Olympic Games.
George Riley will be supported by a Buchan Jones Scholarship as he combines a Sport and Exercise Science degree with training full-time with Team Bath Judo at the Sports Training Village.
A former British Champion and European Cup bronze-medallist at Cadet level in the U90kg weight division, George has made the move up to U100kg and is focussing on getting heavier for his weight class while also targeting qualification for a second European Junior Judo Championships appearance in 2026.
George, Matthew, Cara and Marie receive additional support through TASS (Talented Athlete Scholarship Scheme), with Bath having been a Delivery Site for the Sport England-funded programme since its foundation in 2004.
Visit teambath.com/scholarships to find out more about sports scholarships at the University of Bath. For more information about providing a sports scholarship or supporting student-athletes, visit www.bath.ac.uk/campaigns/supporting-elite-athletes.
With thanks to Team Bath
What an inspiring lineup of Para Lioness stars, rising rugby talent, and future Olympians at the University of Bath truly motivating to see such dedication and support for student-athletes! I found this especially encouraging as someone exploring study opportunities abroad; I used https://www.studyinuk.com/to plan my own UK journey and it was super helpful.