The Park Sports Centre supports GLL Sports Foundation Athletes

At The Park Sports Centre, we believe in GLL’s ambition to bridge the gap in sports inequalities and support today's and tomorrow's athletes.’

We are extremely fortunate to be able to support some of these athletes within our centre and want to share their stories.

Emily Coulcher-Porter: Squash

Emily started playing squash at the age of 8 and insisted she was going to play for England. She played with her brother at the Park in Wheatley and of course wanted to beat him! Emily is ambidextrous and couldn’t decide which hand to play with and thus ended up playing with both. A number of coaches doubted her ability because of this but Emily persevered reaching no 1 in England in every age group During Covid Emily and brother created a squash court on the lawn and practiced footwork daily  by  “ghosting”  After Covid Emily trained on her own and was able to cross train, thanks to the award from GLL. Fitness is one of the key skills for squash.

Emily played for England for U15 and U17 .She was thrilled to win the British and English championships this year. She was selected to play for the U19 team in the   Europeans this year albeit still being u17. Getting  the award of “rising star” from England  Squash recently was special and  a testament to the hours of training. Keeping fit  during GCSEs is a challenge but Emily keeps a rigid daily timetable and plays in the men’s local  leagues .Thank you for all the support from Better and GLL.

Emily as a 16 year old has been selected to play for England as a junior individual and in the Team in the world junior championships 2024 Texas !

 Oliver Coulcher-Porter: Squash

Oliver started playing squash at the age of ten. He was watching his parents and wanted to have a go. He had a natural hand eye coordination and could play a game straight away. Within  two months , he had entered the Oxfordshire closed junior tournament and was immediately put into the squad. He became the number one for County and eventually  played no 1 for the South region of England. Oliver won a nationwide schools championship twice. Oliver was a top ten player,  England  in every age group and reached no 1 briefly in the U17. He has played no 1 for a few men’s clubs and was recently no  2 for  the Men’s  County Team. The  fitness and strength required in squash is really demanding. Having the gym  in the same place as  the squash courts are Park Wheatley is such an asset.

Oliver is currently taking a short break of three months whilst he takes his  A levels but as soon as he finishes,  he intends  to use the Better Facilities courtesy of GLL nonstop to regain his fitness. In the summer, Oliver will join the men’s PSA world tour and will coach juniors in his spare time.

In addition, to playing squash,  Oliver helped to set up Squash Mind ( now Sport Mind) He also made a short documentary, setting up interviews and finding rare footage, about an unrecognised but phenomenal female squash player, Heather McKay who remained unbeaten for 19 years!

https://youtu.be/7tz5CUf9OsQ?si=-P5dBtHUHLLMrDgr

Ethan Rose: Badminton

Ethan has been training at the Park Sports Centre, Wheatley since the age of 7, initially practicing on the badminton courts after school. At 10 years old he won his first of 9 Junior National titles, taking 8 more up until his 16th year, during which time he secured GLL Foundation support which allowed him to also train in the gym from his teen years onwards. In addition to his National titles, Ethan had substantial success on the international tour securing 3 U19 international titles at just 16 year old which played a huge part in him achieving his U19 World No. 4 ranking.

Unfortunately, a year later the pandemic hit and Ethan lost out on his last 2 years of his junior career.

Now, this year, he is embarking on his first full year at senior level and most recently in April this year secured his first Senior International Title in Slovakia.

Being able to train and practice at the Park Sports Centre with his GLL Foundation award has been a massive support to Ethan playing a big part in his success to date. Having, again, received his training award, Ethan will continue to train at the The Park Sports Centre working towards achieving more success at senior level.

As a cach to Ethan and many other GLL Foundation badminton players, being able to train at The Park Sports Centre both on the courts and in the Gym creates a valuable environment for the players to train. Many of the players are medal winning junior players on the National badminton tour and I am sure the successes will continue.

 Natalia Mitchell; Badminton

I started off my badminton journey with my family, every Saturday evening and since then I've worked my way up through to County level. After achieving many high level results in competitions, I then got noticed by England coaches. That is when I took my training full time and started training most days of the week, building my way up the senior circuit and soon after, into the international circuit. 

I would be competing every weekend and traveling all around Europe playing tournaments, achieving my first title at a senior gold competition and medalling in most national tournaments. 

Being able to train at the Wheatley centre has been a key part in my success, with the support of training facilities as well as physio. Without the sport foundation programme I would not have been able to get to the level of top 15 in the UK or achieved the results I have in my career.