2009-10 TASS Athletes - Ones To Watch This Summer

 With an important summer of action happening and the Commonwealth Games in October, TASS is giving you some information on some of our talented athletes as they head into their summer of competition with our 'Ones to Watch'...

Emily Parker - Equestrian - hosted at the Nottingham Trent University Hub

This is currently Emily's first year on TASS and she is two years into studying BA in Real Estate Management at Nottingham Trent University.

Emily and her 10 year old horse Treefers, a Dutch warmblood that Emily has owned for 4 years, were on the Gold medal winning Young Rider equestrian team at the European Eventing Championships in Belgium in 2009

Emily and Treefers have been competing in GB trials and international events since March this year to put them in contention again for a place in the 2010 team. Good results at the horse trials in Lincoln, Hambleden, Houghton Hall and Belton International events, and finally at the last GB trial at Barbury have led to her selection being confirmed for the GB Young Rider Equestrian Team.

Emily and Treefers are now Double Gold winners from the Young Rider European Eventing Championships.  Emily helped Team GB win Team gold before following up with the Individual gold.  AWESOME achievement Emily!!

 Look out for our TASS Newsletter at the end of September where we will be profiling Emily.

Georgie Twigg - Hockey - hosted at the Bath University Hub

Georgie has been a TASS athlete for three years and is in her second year of a Law degree at Bristol University.

Georgie has recently made a big step up into the senior England and GB squads, and recently played a two match test series against the Australian Hockeyroos! She has just been selected for her first senior international tournament, the Samsung FIH Champions Trophy to be held in Nottingham July 10-18th.

On her selection Georgie said, "It was very unexpected to have been selected for the Champions Trophy but I'm really excited about it. It will be a great experience for me, as it is my first senior International tournament and I'm sure I will learn lots. I hope to perform well but also to enjoy the whole experience which I'm sure I will."

The rest of the year is a busy time in the Hockey world with the World Cup in Argentina at the end of August/early September and the Commonwealth Games in India during October, Georgie is hoping to be fighting for selection for both of these. She said, "It would be incredible to go to even just one of these tournaments but I obviously hope to go to both."

Georgie has been confirmed in the England team attending the World Cup starting Saturday 28th August.  She has also been selected to represent England at the Commonwealth Games in Dehli, making her wishes above now reality!  This is superb news for Georgie, so massive Congratulations! 

Follow Georgie and England's progress during the World Cup and Commonwealths by checking our TASS News pages and also our twitter feed, follow @talentedathlete

Graham Gristwood - Orienteering - hosted at the Sheffield Hallam University Hub

Graham is another athlete in his first year on TASS and is currently studying MSc in Sport and Exercise Science at Sheffield Hallam University.

 Graham has had really good Winter and Spring training - Spring saw him win Gold and Silver at the British Championships and run strongly for the British Team in some of their test events.

Graham's first big test of the year came at the European Championships at the end of May; he finished 10th in the Sprint and 6th with the relay team - he was also the fastest leg in the team, running the 3rd fastest leg overall!

Graham is now building up to the World Championships, which are being held in August in Trondheim, Norway.  He will compete in the World Cup series and the World University Championships in Sweden, which should be a really good last test. 

His preparation is all geared around performing as well as possible in Trondheim, and his goals are to have 5 world-class races, which will hopefully give him a top 6 position in the sprint distance and a top 10 in the middle distance when it comes to the World Championship finals. The relay team is also very competitive, so hopefully they will have a fighting chance of a medal!

Stop Press! Graham has just won bronze at the World University Championships.  Well done Graham!

Keep updated on Graham's progress as well as the GB Orienteering team by checking out our news feed.

Joanna Clayden - Basketball - hosted at the Leeds Met University Hub

Jo is in her first year of a TASS award and is currently studying an MSc in Sport and Exercise Science at Leeds Met University.

Jo was recently selected to the GB Standard Life Women's Basketball long squad as they prepare for a summer of qualification matches for the 2011 Eurobasket Competition in Poland.

Jo is currently in an intense three week training camp, where all of the squad will be looking to prove themselves before the coaches select the final 12 for the summer's matches.  Jo is really excited about the opportunity of competing on the international stage if picked and showing her coaches what she's got!

Keep checking the TASS news feed to see how Jo is getting on!