A Formby schoolgirl has been chosen to represent England in
a number of international badminton tournaments.
14-year old Lizzie Tolman, a current Year 10 pupil at
Merchant Taylors’ Girls’ School, recently competed in the Under 15 European
championships as one of eight players to represent the country.
Lizzie played in both the mixed doubles and girls doubles,
where she reached the quarter finals in the mixed category but was knocked out
by the top seeds who eventually went on to win. Together with her partner Fee
Teng Liew, Lizzie beat the number two seeds in the girls doubles in a very
close three set semi-final. Lizzie and Fee are an established doubles pair and
have won all domestic Under 15 events this year. However, this time they came
away with a silver medal after losing in the final to a strong Dutch side.
Two days after returning from Switzerland, Lizzie flew out
to Denmark where she played for England in the 8 Nations, returning with a
bronze medal in the team event. Following that, she competed in both the English
Under 17 and English Under 15 Nationals in Surrey. In the Under 17 event Lizzie
reached the quarter finals in both the mixed and the girls doubles; a great
achievement considering she is up to three years younger than her competitors.
In the Under 15 category she became the National Champion in the girls doubles
and silver medalist in the mixed.
Lizzie is now due to compete for Lancashire in the Inter County
Championships where Lancashire is seeded fourth out of 36 counties. The
tournament will be played over four days and over 400 players will be staying
at Nottingham University, making it a favourite amongst the players. The day after
this finishes Lizzie flies out to Belgium to compete for England in Brussels.
In order for Lizzie to compete at this level she has to
train four nights a week, travel to tournaments on Fridays and compete in
matches on Saturdays and Sundays.
Despite such a hectic schedule, Lizzie still manages to
excel in her studies and is heading for a strong set of GCSE results next year.
Her school and family are very proud of her hard work and modest attitude
towards her success.