A Wycombe High School student is aiming for a professional sporting career, after she was awarded an £18,000 grant to train for next year’s Commonwealth Games.
Isabelle Tucker, who has just turned 17, won the money with teammate Katie Keefe, following an official qualifying beach volleyball competition in Boscombe, near Bournemouth.
The grant will go towards funding for training and physio treatment, as well as travelling overseas to take part in competitions, as Isabelle sets her sights on a place at the Games in Birmingham next summer, and beyond.
Isabelle said: “We had a qualification tournament to decide who would receive the funding to train for next year’s games and luckily, me and my partner won it.
“It was immense, it was crazy.
"We hadn’t prepared ourselves to actually win it and we were just going into the tournament to prove a point because we were the youngest team by far and, honestly, we were just amazed at the result and couldn’t be happier.
“You’re only allowed to spend the money on international travel, competitions, and training, though – so no shopping sprees!
"But I’m just so grateful for this funding and it will be put to very good use.
“There’s another qualifying tournament to determine who’ll represent England at the Commonwealth Games next year and our focus now is on that.
“The money is so helpful because England isn’t as advanced as a lot of other countries with beach volleyball facilities.”
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