GOLD FOR LILY MILLS
Islington tennis player Lily Mills has won gold in the mixed doubles at the Special Olympics World Games in Berlin. She went on to add to her medal tally with a bronze medal in the women’s doubles. Lily built on her success in 2019 when she won gold in the women’s singles and mixed doubles at the games in Abu Dhabi.
Lily has trained at Islington Tennis Centre from a young age and is currently part of the performance squad at the centre. She also works with coach Mukember who has helped develop her game. Lily says “Mukember has changed my game style to a much more performance level”.
The Special Olympics World Games is the world's largest inclusive sports event. Around 6,500 athletes with intellectual disabilities from around the world compete against each other across 26 sports. The event brought together 18,000 volunteers from 126 countries, with 100,000 tickets sold across the games.
Lily is also supported by the GLL Sport Foundation, the UK’s largest independent athlete support programme. Over the past 15 years, GLL Sport Foundation supported athletes have excelled in major competitions and have gained 76 Olympic and Paralympic medals and 77 Commonwealth Games medals. It has always however been a core mission of the programme to support young emerging talent on their sporting journey, with the majority of athletes aged under the age of 21 and the largest cohort under 18 years old. Across the programme, 87% of athletes receive no other funding or athlete support, which underlines the importance of the scheme to both athletes and GLL’s social values.
Please visit the link below to find out about the different ways in which you can play tennis at Islington Tennis Centre. There are options available for all ages and abilities, including court hire, group lessons and private coaching.