Tell us about what do you currently do?
I am 18 and am currently in my final year of my A levels studying Biology, Chemistry and Economics. I am a sports ambassador at college and I established and now lead their first ever Women’s Cricket team. Outside of college, I coach with Wicketz, a charity that aims to broaden access to sport and remove barriers by bringing cricket into areas with high levels of deprivation. I am a sports coach in primary schools and deliver PE lessons and after school sports clubs and academies. My experiences have fuelled my passion for improving sport to make it accessible to all and as a result, I now sit on many advisory boards to contribute to making positive changes in sport and physical activity.
Tell us about your sporting background?
I began to develop an interest in cricket after watching the enjoyment, community engagement and passion that participants in the Wicketz programme had. As a result, I decided that I wanted to start playing cricket. However, the Covid-19 pandemic began and we went into lockdown. I engaged in online calls once a week with Wicketz where we would participate in quizzes and drills at home. When the lockdown rules were finally lifted, I began participating at one of the sessions and then started playing across multiple sessions. I enjoyed playing and progressed to join Calmore Sports Cricket Club. My newfound love for the sport encouraged me to get involved in any way that I could so shortly after, I began coaching. I now coach cricket as well as a variety of other sports in which I play, umpire and score.
What is your particular area of interest when it comes to accessing sport?
I am passionate about improving access to and removing barriers to sport and physical activity. There are currently large disparities between the levels of access that people have to sport, which has detrimental effects on their physical and emotional health and well being. I believe that everyone should have an equal opportunity to participate in sport and hope that I can contribute to improving it.
Why did you want to become a member of the Youth Board?
I wanted to become a member of the Youth Sports Trust Youth board after attending the Youth Summit in July 2023. This was an event where more than 80 young people came together to voice their opinions and tackle some of the problems in sport by collectively choosing and writing three call to actions. These call to actions were then presented to the Youth Sports Trust's partners, providing them the opportunity to reflect on and implement what we thought should be done to improve sport and physical activity. I loved this event as it helped us to not only share our opinions but also to ensure that our voices were heard and that our thoughts mattered. I knew I wanted to continue to be involved in the fantastic work that the Youth Sports Trust does and contribute more to making positive changes in sport.
If you could change one thing about sport or physical activity for young people, what would that be?
If I could change something about sport and physical activity it would be the importance and accessibility of it. Despite it being part of the curriculum and extremely important for the development of young people, its importance can often be overlooked. As well as this, everyone should have the opportunity to try every sport and play the sport that they want, whether it's football, diving or fencing!
Tell us a fun or interesting fact about yourself.
As well as cricket, I am also a Sea Cadet. I enjoy rowing, sailing and drill - otherwise known as marching. I competed in the National drill and piping competition and came first as the colour bearer. As a result, I was selected to be the banner bearer for the Sea Cadet Corps at the King’s coronation. I participated in overnight drill rehearsals in London from 10pm to 3am and was in Parliament Square during the coronation.