I am sure there are many of us who enjoyed watching the Paris Olympic Games this summer, following our favourite athletes and events, enjoying the epic performances, wins and losses by marginal gains. Often, the legacy of elite sport is to inspire a generation and we have a student at Carisbrooke who is embarking on her journey to achieve her dream of one day becoming an Olympian. 

We would like to congratulate Summer in Year 9 who has recently secured a spot in the National Academy for Archery on their Olympic Pathway. This means that Summer will get to experience specialist training from GB Archery coaches at one of the UK’s National Centres of Excellence - Lilleshall. Here she will get access to world-class sporting facilities and coaching.  Having only recently started the sport with West Wight Archery last year, Summer has demonstrated a natural ability, securing two first places in both the Portsmouth and Worcester rounds in the Vectis competition in March before being crowned Tournament Champion. From this, Summer was spotted and invited to join the Hampshire team, which she has since been training with for the past few months. 

Summer’s performances have gone from strength to strength achieving second place in the Sussex County Competition and first in the Kent County Competition. Summer then entered the biggest junior competition - Junior National Outdoor Championships at Lilleshall and, after a nervous start on day one, she came second on day two, only four points behind first place! From this, Summer's coach suggested she attend the profiling day, which led to her being selected for the National Age Group Academy run by Archery GB. 

Congratulations Summer - we wish you the best of luck as you continue to work hard and build on your phenomenal success to hopefully achieve your dream of becoming an Olympian. We will keep our eye out for you in Brisbane in 2032, if not Los Angeles before.