A TEENAGER from Barford will be getting into a spin next month as she competes with the world’s best.
Amelia Edwards has been picked for the third year running to represent Great Britain’s Under 20 women’s team at the gruelling, fast-paced sport of Ultimate, in which teams pass a frisbee into an end zone on an American football style pitch to score points.
The 16-year-old, who attends Aylesford School in Warwick, will travel to Poland to compete in the European Junior Ultimate Championships in August.
The non-contact game, played by some 5million people worldwide, with an estimated 8,000 players registered in the UK, was developed in the United States in the late 1960s.
It is unique in that it has no referees, even at the highest levels of competition. Players call their own fouls and resolve their own disputes.
Amelia, who hopes to take a sports-related degree after completing her A-Levels, said the sport had now been recognised by the International Olympic Committee and could be included at the 2024 games in Paris.
She said: “I’ve already had the honour of representing the Under-20s at the World Championships in Canada last year, but to compete at an Olympic Games would be the ultimate privilege.”
And Amelia has been given a helping hand by commercial property firm Bromwich Hardy which is paying her travel costs as the sport receives no funding at national or regional level.
“I cannot thank Bromwich Hardy enough for the help they are giving me to realise my ambition of playing for my country,” said Amelia, who plays for both the Leamington Lemmings and Mighty Hucks teams.
“We’re a new sport so everything has to be self-funded. All my money is funnelled into playing Ultimate one way or another and I’ve been holding bake sales and washing cars to help.”
Tom Bromwich, partner at Bromwich Hardy, said the firm had been hugely impressed with Amelia’s dedication to her sport.
“It is clear to us that Amelia has all the qualities needed to make a success of her sporting career and we are just happy to help in any way we can. Ultimate is a tremendous sport which combines, pace, skill and high levels of physical fitness with the sort of sportsmanship which other sports envy.”
