Middlesbrough College Sport has been given a boost by signing contracts with two new staff members including table tennis coach Steve Brunskill meaning students can improve their table tennis skills in high quality training sessions from September.

In addition, a new elite sports scholar- ship has been launched, which will see up to 15 top young athletes at the college given extra support, including a free training kit, an iPad and free transport to competitions.

Sports academy manager and director David Goodchild said: “Agreeing terms with Steve means we can extend our offering to include table tennis and we’ve already had interest from students keen to be coached by them.

“MC SPORT offers students a fantastic op- portunity to train to a high level and compete in the British College’s Sport leagues at both regional and national level.”

■ Table tennis star Steve Brunskill (left) and professional golfer James Atthey (right) have joined the squad at Middlesbrough College Sport, offering two more sports to the students. They are pictured with Football Academy director, former Boro player Neil Maddison

Students must be enrolled on a full-time course at the college to be eligible to apply for a place in one of the academies.

All those who are successful will receive six to ten hours’ coaching, training and fixtures each week, with the opportunity to compete at national and regional level.

All students are able to use the facilities at MC Sport, and the wider community is able to hire the facilities outside normal College hours.

Extra coaching sessions will also be available at Swerve table tennis Centre,Middlesbrough
■ Call the course information hotline on 01642 333700 or email d.goodchild@mbro. ac.uk for more information.