Plymouth College swimming scholar, Emma Wilkins, 17, found herself shaking hands with Gordon Brown after she was invited to attend a reception for the UK School Games at the House of Commons. The evening reception, hosted by former Sports Minister Richard Caborn and attended by a number of sports personalities, was preceded by a visit to Downing Street.
A lower sixth pupil and a member of the school’s elite swimming squad, Emma has been chosen as one of 12 inaugural UK School Games Champion Ambassadors, a programme that will honour on an annual basis the outstanding performers from the UK School Games, many of whom will be tipped as competitors at future Olympic and Paralympic Games. The Games, at which Emma won a gold medal last year, replicate a major adult multi-sport competition with an opening and closing ceremony and an athlete’s village.
The ambassador-honour comes on the back of Emma’s first international selection, which will see her represent Great Britain at the World Youth Swimming Championships in Mexico in July. This is followed swiftly by her first senior international selection when she will be part of the GB team in a tri-meet against Canada and France in early August. She missed selection to this summer’s Olympic relay team by just one place.
“The invitation to the House of Commons and Downing Street came as a real surprise for Emma - she only knew about it a couple of days before”, said Plymouth College Director of Swimming, Jon Rudd. “It is a great honour that she has been chosen as an ambassador for sport and gets to represent Plymouth College and Plymouth Leander in such a high profile way. This is proving to be a very good year for Emma and she is very much looking forward to her first international events.”
20/05/2008
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