120 students from different faculties and in thirty different sports disciplines participate in a new edition of the Sports Talent Program, promoted by the Olympic Study Center of the University of Navarra. The objective is to offer a comprehensive training to competitive athletes, providing them with the necessary aids so that they can combine their studies with a professional sports practice. The opening ceremony of the program has been held at the sports center and has been attended by the Vice Chancellor of Students, Tomás Gómez-Acebo.

Sports Talent allows students to have the help of their teachers to coordinate the academic schedule (theoretical classes, practical workshops, exams, etc.) with the practice of the sports disciplines in which they are federated. Students can earn two credits per course and up to six in their entire career. These athletes have three annual sessions on nutrition, psychology of the athlete, medical assistance and a complete training so that they know the sports field as a whole.

Eduardo Prieto Iglesias, from Pamplona and master student at Tecnun-Engineering School, is a referee at LaLiga Santander, 1st division of national soccer. Prieto participates for the first time in the program and affirms that, to combine his studies with the professional sports activity, it is necessary “a lot of organization and efficiency”. “If the program did not exist, I would have enormous difficulties and I would be forced to choose”, he adds.

In a similar situation are Daria Abasheva and Antonio Bazán, students of 4th and 6th year, in the Faculty of Medicine. Abasheva practices fencing and Antonio Bazán, from Zizur Mayor, is a professional handball player in Helvetia Anaitasuna and in the National Spanish team. They have participated in the program since the beginning of their studies. They point out that it provides flexibility and allows you to communicate with the professors to change exam dates, class schedules and internships at the clinic.

Yarima Miranda Ilundain, from Lakuntza and first year student of the Degree in History with a Diploma in Archeology, has competed since the age of 15 in the 1st and 2nd division of women's indoor soccer. “Thanks to sports, I have met people from all over the world, I have been able to travel throughout Spain and even outside the country”, she says. For her, the Sports Talent Program is an opportunity “to continue playing and be able to perform at its highest in both fields: academics and sports”.

The students will be part and will act as ambassadors of the sports yearbook, an initiative of the University Sports Service that aims to get people to know all students who practice sports whether federated or not.

The director of the Sports Service, Javier Trigo, has stressed that the main thing for the student must be their studies, “because the goal is for everyone to finish their careers in an excellent way”, he said. At the same time, he has invited them not to disregard sports. The Vice Chancellor of Students, Tomás Gómez-Acebo, has closed the event by thanking the participants: “We trust you, that's why we put the seal of Sports Talent; because you know how to look at others and think about the team, the effort and the work”.