Sport: Badminton
Birthplace: Leeds
University: Currently studying a BA in Modern Languages (Spanish) with Business Management at the University of Badminton
Sports played: Badminton, Tennis – I can be handy with most racket sports!
Sporting Achievements: 2012 ICT Champion with Yorkshire (co-captain with Chloe Birch), 8 domestic bronze medals at Gold Level. Four-time National Age Group Quarter-Finalist (heartbroken I never medalled!), Semi-Finals of U17 Cwmbran Gold Star Singles! Over 20 Junior Restricted Titles.
Coaching Experience: Level 1 Coaching, currently going for Level 2 with the help of the University of Birmingham High Performance Centre (Sports Performance Award Athlete) – ran and assisted a session at the Bradford Performance Centre.
Most memorable sporting occasion: Watching Jess Ennis, Greg Rutherford and Mo Farah win their gold medals at London 2012 from the stadium itself. Or, watching my inspiration and idol, Serena Williams complete her second ‘Serena Slam’ at Wimbledon 2015.
Hobbies: Tennis, Leeds United, Serena Williams, Candy Crush (I am an addict, shocking I know!) and socialising with my friends!
Favourite Film: Bad Teacher or Wimbledon (too much of a tennis keeno!)
Favourite Book: I cannot remember the last book I read – and I am very ashamed!
Favourite Stadium: Has to be Centre Court at Wimbledon
Influential characters: I was definitely very lucky to go to a primary school where we were able to play badminton – the school I attended was formerly a middle school and so facilities were much better and could accommodate lots of us. Dot Mainwaring, Peter Brook and his dad (Mr Brook Snr) introduced me to the sport and really encouraged me to play. Sadly, all three of these people have sadly passed away now, but they have left a huge legacy in my village and especially with the number of the people they inspired to play this great sport. After I left primary school, I was lucky enough to be taken under the wing of Sue and John Foster; who introduced me to my first session outside of school with Jenny Drake. Jenny was a very firm, but an extremely fair coach, and with her I have no doubt I improved tenfold. Sadly, as I started to progress, it was time for her to retire and relocate. It was at this moment when I decided to make badminton a priority for me, which meant I had to travel further afield, to the other side of Leeds to train with even better players with Harry and Barbara Jarvis. Personally, I strictly agree with what people say about if someone has belief in you, you have belief in them, and this happened with them. I improved greatly; both mentally and physically and picked up several titles along the way. But unfortunately, it was becoming too strenuous training at these hours and so I made my final coaching move to Nitin and Sarah Panesar. This was like finding the perfect final piece of the jigsaw. My results improved as I improved greatly technically – I couldn’t have done this without Nitin and Sarah, and have a lot of respect for both of them! As everyone does, we have to grow up and the transition to University has seemed somewhat seamless. I am so grateful to Head Coach, Lorraine Cole, who has spent around 14/16 hours a week coaching me (I see her more than anyone else!) in first year, and she has really taken me under her wing to not only coach but give me the opportunity to pass on my knowledge to the next group of talented athletes coming through this, what can only be described as excellent, Performance Centre.
