It IS possible to combine elite sport with academic achievement…
We were delighted to hear from Annabel, in our Upper Sixth, who has just received an offer to read Medicine at Nottingham University. This is no mean feat in itself with places at medical schools around the UK being highly sought after but couple this with Annabel’s competitive Pentathlon career and it becomes even more amazing.
Annabel started at Plymouth College in Year 7. Her reasons for coming here were that she had heard that this was a good place to combine a love of sport with good academic results. And this has certainly been the case for Annabel. She added that aside from this she also felt a strong sense of community, a sense of belonging and ‘family’ which just added to the list of reasons she wanted to come here.
She started Pentathlon in Year 7 and really enjoyed the training as much as anything else. She started to enter a few competitions, did well, and realised that she may be able to go a bit further in the sport. She then started to compete internationally, with her highlight to date at the Youth Olympic Games in Rio in 2018. She is hoping that she is going to be able to continue to do this whilst at university and has her sights set on competing at future Olympic Games. However, as much as anything else, she attributes taking part in sport as key in helping her to maintain good mental health as well as physical health.
Annabel says that her desire to head into medicine stemmed from a passion for both biology and chemistry at GCSE - we talked about how choosing subjects you love as you think about options for A level can naturally lead you into careers that you will enjoy and do well in. She was part of the early application group for UCAS and, with the support of staff here at Plymouth College, she started to look at the application process from the beginning of Year 12. This was particularly important to prepare for the additional test that medical students need to take, the UKCAT test. Annabel goes on to tell us of the immense level of support she received in terms of putting together her personal statement (huge thanks go to Mr Martin especially!) as well as interview practice for the MMI (Multi Mini Interviews) that are a feature of the medicine application process. “To think the teachers would take time out of their own busy days to give me much needed interview practice, especially on line practice, was amazing”.
What was the best skill she has learned here at PMC that she will take forward with her? Organisation! Her time at Plymouth College has taught her to become supremely organised, balancing an academic timetable with her elite sporting commitments, which will be useful as she heads to Uni.
Finally, we asked Annabel to sum up her Plymouth College experience in 3 words;
“Community - it really is like a family.
Amazing - because it is.
Support - to be able to have support for both my sport and academics is incredible.
I need one more… accepting. Because everyone accepts you for who you are. You can be yourself and everyone here celebrates that.”
