Sport Scholarship athlete Jay Kavanagh who plays basketball for WIT Waterford Vikings talks sport and how he balances sport and studying business at WIT
Every academic year, WIT provides up to 60 Sports Scholarship Awards distributed between three awarding categories which reflect the sporting level a student is competing at within their sporting discipline: Elite, Sport Scholarship & Emerging Talent. Apply at http://www.wit.ie/vikingsportscholarship
Name: Jay Kavanagh
Sport: Basketball
Club: Waterford Vikings
County: Waterford
Course: Bachelor of Business
Highest Achievements to date?
Winning bronze medal at under 18 European championships
Winning schools all Ireland under 16 and 19
MVP schools all Ireland under 16
Winning club all Ireland under 16
What is your favourite memory from your sporting career so far?
Winning bronze at European championships
What is your personal aim this year?
Win under 20 shield and try out for Ireland under 20 next season.
Who was your sporting idol growing up?
Dirk Nowitzki
How do you prepare for each event?
Make sure my team has a high intensity training that week.
On game day I get to the gym about an hour and a half before tip off and get some shots up and then we have a team warm up.
What advice would you give to Athletes wanting to improve?
Be happy but never satisfied.
What do you do to relax/unwind?
Watch TV/ hang out with friends.
How do you balance work/college/training?
Keeping to the same routine every week gives me no excuse to skip training work or class.
What was the best advise you were ever given?
Before I was a starter, I was told not to give your coach a reason to take you out
Do you get nervous before big races/competitions and if so, how do you deal with it?
Being nervous is a good thing, I usually play better when I’m nervous before a game.
About the Sports Scholarship Programme at WIT
Offers an athlete-led development programme aimed at supporting the overall development of high performance athletes in a wide range of sports. The programme gives talented athletes the opportunity to develop their sporting and academic career by offering a network of support services and expertise which is tailored around the specific needs of each individual athlete.
SETU Waterford, Cork Road, Waterford City, 
