AT FIRST GLANCE, Irish-ranking tennis player Zara Wolseley, hockey player Zanya Dahl and rugby player Ray McIlreavy might appear to have little in common beyond the fact that they are considerably more athletically talented than most of us.

Yet all three are current benefiaries of Trinity College's sports bursaries scheme, designed to attract the cream of young athletes to the country's oldest university.

"The bursaries were introduced to improve the calibre of sports in TCD," says Cathy Doyle of the college's Central Athletic Club, which administers the bursary scheme, now in its fourth year. "We feel that those bursary students playing with college clubs have definitely brought up the clubs."

Certainly the hockey team, of which Dahl is captain and which boasts five sports scholars, are performing well and remain in contention for promotion, while the tennis club are heading out with the winter league in their sights. TCD's rugby tradition too remains in safe hands, with McIlreavy captaining one of the men's sides.

The bursaries, which are renewable each year for up to four years, provide students entering the college this year with an annual sum which can be put towards books, extra coaching or the other inevitable expenses which are part and parcel of student life. Last year nine bursaries were awarded, each worth £600.

Applicants should be participating at provincial or national level in their sports and must, of course, commit themselves fully to ensuring that TCD do as much damage as possible to the sporting ambitions of their opponents.

The closing date for applications is February 1st, and application forms and further details are available from Cathy Doyle, Dublin University Central Athletic Club, 27 Trinity College, Dublin 2.