Finn Melon – BSc (Hons) in Health Science and Physical Activity

Name: Finn Melon

From: Kerry

School: Mean Scoil Nua an Leith-Triúigh Castlegregory

I am from Co. Kerry. My main two hobbies are windsurfing and surfing. I love to spend every possible moment I can doing either one of them. So as you can probably gather I love sports, hence the reason I chose to study Health Science and Physical Activity. I believed it would be well suited to me with my love for sport. I chose ATU Sligo because I saw it as a place where I could further my education while getting plenty of quality time on the water in some of Ireland’s best waves.

Health Science and Physical Activity has a very broad degree syllabus which means there are lots of opportunities to find something that you enjoy learning about. My favourite aspect of the degree would have to be the on-campus sports science practical elements. Everything you read about in a theory class you get to carry out in a physical sense. I love this way of learning.

For anybody thinking about studying this degree in ATU Sligo I say go for it! I can’t point out a reason as to why I wouldn’t recommend ATU Sligo to somebody, especially if I was talking to another student like me who liked sports and spending time outdoors. Sligo itself is a lovely town. It’s also nice how you get that bigger town feeling (coming from a small village in the west of Kerry) yet within minutes you can be out and about in the countryside. 

When it comes to sport, Sligo is excellent too. For me being a surfer and windsurfer it has to be the proximity of the college to the Sligo and Donegal coastline, which has an abundance of world-class waves scattered up and down the county. 

I am the current Irish National Windsurfing champion, Have been multiple times Irish Junior Wave sailing champion. I have also been lucky enough to compete abroad such as competing in the world junior windsurfing championships when I was younger and now competing on the British Pro Windsurf Tour. 

The ATU Sports Scholarship really benefited me. First of all, I think it is a lovely thing to be able to say I have achieved and I am very proud to have been awarded the scholarship. It also was a financial benefit as it supported me to buy new sports equipment and pay for trips abroad to compete in surfing and windsurfing competitions. 

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