BROMSGROVE’S Megan Walsh is hoping to follow in the footsteps of successful Great Britain sides and help fire the team to gold at the World University Games this month.
Team GBR emerged victorious in their previous appearance at the Games in 2013, defeating Mexico 6-2.
And the 22-year-old, who plays for Yeovil in the Women’s Super League, has ambitions to take away a medal at the Games in Chinese Taipei.
The Liverpool University student said: “I’m really excited to be going to the World University Games, it’s a different atmosphere to any England camp I’ve been to or any tournament’s I’ve taken part in.
“It has just been football in the past so this is completely different as it has a whole range of sports going.
“I’m massively proud to be represent Great Britain, I couldn’t be happier to be doing this.
“We want to win the Games, that’s our aim for sure.
“I think we have a good chance of winning the Games.
“This team is quite strong physically and has good key players and quality strikers that can be very dangerous.
“We have to gel first and once we do that I think we will be just fine.”
Held biennially in major cities across the globe the World University Games (WUGs) sees athletes come together to compete across numerous sports, with the Summer Universiade the second largest multi-sport event after the Olympics.
This year’s event will be staged in Chinese Taipei from this Saturday to Wednesday, August 30 with almost 10,000 participants, from more than 170 countries, expected to compete.
At the last Games, Team GB recorded its biggest medal haul in ten years, with 12 per cent of athletes medalling – a total of 11 podium finishes split between three gold, four silver and four bronze.
The psychology graduate started her career at Aston Villa before spells at Everton and Notts County before signing for Yeovil.
Having to travel to and from training in Nottingham while studying was not an easy combination, admits Walsh.
But the Aston Villa fan heaped praise on her university for helping the goalkeeper finish her degree while progressing her footballing career.
She said: “I studied psychology at the University of Liverpool and they were a massive help for me, especially when I was at Notts County.
“I had to travel to and from games, get to and from training each week which was a two-hour trip.
“They helped me with my studies around that and helped support me.”
British Universities & Colleges Sport (BUCS) is the national governing body for Higher Education (HE) sport in the UK, organising leagues and competitions for more than 150 institutions across 52 different sports.
More than 110 athletes will represent the GB team at the 29th FISU Summer World University Games 2017.
