FREYA Levy insists she isn’t prepared to let the disappointment of settling for silver at the Sainsbury’s 2013 School Games stop her from continuing to make international inroads.
The 17-year-old wheelchair basketball player represented England Central at the Games in Sheffield but couldn’t help them to victory over England North in the final as they lost 47-38.
Levy, who attends Greensward Academy, was less than impressed with the defeat in the Steel City but has still enjoyed a successful year as she starts to realise her international ambitions.
She claimed silver at the Women’s Under-25 European Championships last month with Britain and won’t let what happened at the Games thwart her rapid progress in the sport.
“I am not very impressed to come away with silver because everyone really wants gold and part of the team didn’t seem to want it as much so it was bit difficult,” said Levy.
“Having said that, we had the best team cohesion of all the teams and we were all sticking to curfew and behaving well so as much as we deserved the gold we have to take the defeat.
“It was hard for people to step up from a regional level to a national level so quickly, especially in a short tournament so I think we struggled with that a bit.
“I won silver medal at the European Championships with Britain which was an amazing experience and my debut at international level and that was really cool.
“There is a World Championships in Toronto next year which is my goal so I can hopefully get on the British team for that.”
Levy was among more than 1,600 athletes to descend on Sheffield for the School Games, supported by National Lottery funding from Sport England and delivered by the Youth Sport Trust.
Wheelchair basketball was one of 12 sports on show and Levy, while disappointed, insists she and the England Central team will be back in 2014 and hungrier than ever for gold.
“The environment in the athletes’ village was great and with the interactions with everyone else it really was a fantastic experience,” she added.
“But obviously we will be coming back next year with people who have now had a year’s experience at a School Games and at this level so that will really be exciting.”
>The Sainsbury’s School Games is supported by National Lottery funding from Sport England and delivered by the Youth Sport Trust.
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