Jaguar Academy Of Sports - rising star update

In May 2011, at the prestigious Leander Club, 50 Rising Stars were provided with a Bursary Award from the Jaguar Academy of Sport. Only a few months into the programme and we are already seeing some fantastic achievements.

Prescot born Handball player, Rob Avery, has been selected as first choice goalkeeper for England U19s in the European Open being held in Sweden.

Young Oxfordshire weightlifer, Eddie Chambers, recently competed in an international club competition in Coruna, Spain. Eddie finished 3rd, and achieved a lift of 85 snatch and a personal best of 110 in the clean & jerk. Eddie will be competing next in the British Senior Championships in Lilleshall.

Jenna Derraven, an archer from Cwmbran, South Wales recently competed in Paphos, Cyprus for the 2nd leg of the Junior European Championships. In the qualifications she performed well, but finished with a ranking of 25th place. She was then drawn against a Russian ranked 17 places above her. Jenna performed brilliantly and knocked her out of the competition. The next round was a close match but Jenna was knocked out by an Italian competitor and overall, finished in 9^th place.

16-year-old synchro swimmer, Hannah Green, of Eynsham, Oxfordshire recently competed in the Junior European Synchronised Swimming Championships in Belgrade.  Hannah swam as part of the Great Britain Team finishing 10^th in the Free Team Final, and 9^th in the Combination Team Final. Hannah has been invited to train with the Great Britain Senior Squad at Aldershot in August, before trialing in early September to become part of Senior Squad, from which the athletes to compete at the 2012 Olympics will be selected. A great achievement for such a young athlete!

Joshua Ward-Hibbert of Nottinghamshire, competed in Wimbledon Juniors Boys Competition as he was awarded a wildcard place by the All England Lawn Tennis Club. At just 17-years-old, Joshua recorded the fastest ever serve of 133mph at Wimbledon for a Junior. He also made it to the semi-finals in the doubles with tennis partner Sam Hutt.

Luke Holman from Plymouth, has also been very successful, he competed in the Taekwondo National Championships in Manchester where over 600 competitors were challenging for the Champion title. It is Luke’s first year fighting in the Senior divisions even though he is only 17 years old. After beating some tough competition, Luke reached the final where he competed against a Senior National team member. Luke won with the final score at 4-1 meaning he is now Senior National Champion at just 17 years old. This is a big boost for Luke as it will increase his chances of being selected for the senior national team.

Coral Kennerley, a shooter from Ceredigion, recently won the Junior U21s women air pistol title in Luxemburg. She was also part of the Senior team, which won the title.

Talented female golfer, Kelsey MacDonald received her first GB&I cap in Lytham St Annes where she was competing in a team that won the Astor Trophy. Kelsey is travelling to Amsterdam soon to compete in the European Individuals.

Young boxer, Patrick McCann of Market Harborough, competed in the Great Britain Championships in Cardiff. He beat the Scottish Champion in the semi final and went on to win gold the following day against the Welsh Champion. From winning this it looks odds on that he will be chosen for the World Championships later this summer in Azerbaijan.

Kiera McVitty, a cyclist from Peterborough, recently won the Youth Circuit Championships at Lister Park in Bradford. This means Kiera is able to wear the national jersey on the junior cycling tour of Assen in Holland.

Alistair Patrick-Heselton of Milton Keynes, is currently competing at the CPISRA World Championships in Holland. This is Alistair’s first football competition with England and his first time back playing football after 5 years. Alistair was told he would never play football again after a severe head injury. He has started in two matches and scored two goals including one on his debut, which was England’s first goal of the tournament.

West Lothian swimmer, Richard Schafers, recently competed in the British Gas ASA National Championships in Sheffield. He broke his personal best time by over a second in the 100m freestyle winning a bronze medal. He set a new Scottish record in the 50m freestyle in a time of 22.86 seconds and has also competed at the Scottish Nationals where he managed to break the Scottish record in the 50m freestyle again while racing against the world record holder for 50m fly.

Devonshire, para-cyclist Tom Staniford won the 2011 British National Paracycling Criterium Championships, which took place at Hog Hill, Redbridge Cycling Centre, London. This is easily the biggest win of his career to date, and also means he is able to wear the famous striped jersey of National Champion for this year in all his criterium races.

Toby Tree, a young golfer from West Sussex, has recently played in the Sir Henry Cooper Masters at Nizels Golf Club in Kent where he became the Sir Henry Cooper Masters Champion. He has also just been selected as part of a 6 man squad to play in the European Boys Competition in Prague in the upcoming weeks. This is a very prestigious competition and a great selection for Toby. He also took part in the Ian Poulter Junior Invitational at Woburn Golf Club where he was able to receive some golfing tips from one of his heroes Jaguar Academy of Sport Ambassador and World Matchplay Champion, Ian Poulter. Toby also took part in the English Amateur Championships at Woburn Golf Club. 

It has been an exciting few months for our Rising Stars. They have a lot of sporting competitions coming up over the rest of the summer and the Jaguar Academy of Sport looks forward to keeping up with their progress and achievements.