TEENAGE hockey and golfing sensation Lucy Walton is celebrating after she was selected to represent her country at the 2016 School Games.
Lucy, joint head girl at Malvern St James Girls’ School, will travel to Loughborough University with England Hockey to participate in the games which run from September 1 to September 4.
Three squads of 16 players, all of whom are aged 17 and under, have been selected for the event and Lucy’s achievement follows her attendance at Advanced Apprenticeship in Sporting Excellence camps over the last nine months.
Only the day before her England Hockey selection, Lucy secured first place at the Worcestershire and Herefordshire Ladies County Golf Association’s County Junior Golf Championships held at The Vale Golf Club in Evesham.
Her morning round of three-under-par (gross 71) also broke the course record for The Vale.
This is the third year in a row Lucy has won the competition and her fourth altogether.
Lucy is hoping to be one of nine girls nationwide to reach the Grand Finals, which will be played at the world-renowned Quinta do Lago, Portugal, in November.
Lucy, 17, said: “I’m so thrilled to have won the Junior Golf Championship and been chosen to represent England Hockey in the same week.
“I’m looking forward to my next matches in September now, as well as finding out if I’ll be going to Portugal in November.”
Lucy is now in the very unusual and privileged position of representing two sports at a national level – England Hockey at the Sainsbury’s Games in the first weekend of September and England Schools Golf the following weekend for her match against Scotland.
Lucy will also be making the trip to Colchester in October to play in the Nick Faldo Series Grand Final after winning the series’ under 21s Welsh Championship in April.