Autumn 2019Summer of sporting success for local stars

The summer of 2019 will be one to remember for these local sports stars, as they have enjoyed the sporting season of a lifetime. From football and lacrosse to underwater hockey and judo, Michelle Kight look at how they have made an impact on the sporting world.

Basketball
Mollie Campbell, of Whitworth, and the Great Britain women’s basketball team made history in July by finishing fourth in the EuroBasket tournament, the best placing by a British team at a European Championship.

Their placing means that team GB is now guaranteed to play in February’s qualifying tournament for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.

Mollie was the youngest player of England’s basketball squad that won a silver medal at the 2018 Commonwealth Games in Australia.

Her basketball career began at the age of 12, when she followed in her brother’s footsteps and took up the sport, playing for Manchester Mystics. She now plays for Leicester Riders in a centre forward position, and hopes to take part in the next Olympics.

Football
Rochdale-born midfielder Keira Walsh, 22, played an integral part in this year’s England Women’s football team, which finished fourth in this summer’s FIFA World Cup.

England’s opening match of the 2019 World Cup – Walsh’s World Cup debut – was watched by 6.1 million viewers on BBC TV, a record for the women’s game.

She signed her first professional contract in 2015 with Manchester City and made her debut for City in a 1-0 win over Notts County Ladies in July 2014.

Since then, she has blossomed and has gained international experience at youth level with England.

In 2016, Walsh helped City to a league and cup double, also making her Champions League debut and scoring the match winner in a last 16 triumph over Brondby IF.

Defender Axel Tuanzebe, 21, signed a new contract with Manchester United in July 2019 after a year on loan at Aston Villa. Tuanzebe was raised in Rochdale after he was born in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

A former pupil at St Cuthbert’s RC High School, Tuanzebe was signed by Manchester United when he was just 11.

Mixed Martial Arts
Kyran Sturrock, 18, of Castleton, came home in June from the Mixed Martial Arts European Championships in Rome with a bronze medal.

Sturrock, who plans to pursue the sport at a professional level, has been involved in the sport for six years, training at the Full Contact Performance Centre (FCPC) on Queensway and the SBG gym in Manchester.

Underwater Hockey
At the time of printing, three players from Rochdale Underwater Hockey Club have been selected to play for Great Britain in the Underwater Hockey World Age Group Championships in Sheffield in August.

Tiegan Alexander, 18, and Ella Tomlinson, 15, have been selected for the women’s under 19s team, whilst Isaac Rhodes-Dawson, 17, has been selected for the men’s under 19s team.

Tiegan has been playing underwater hockey since she was 10 years old and Ella since she was nine, and they have both played for Rochdale’s junior teams at all age levels. Isaac joined the club when he was nine and has played for the Rochdale junior teams and currently competes with Manchester A team at the highest-level competitions.

One of the only sports to be played in three dimensions, underwater hockey is a teambased sport, played with a plastic-coated lead puck on the bottom of the swimming pool. The puck is moved using small bats approximately 30cm long, players wear a mask, snorkel and a pair of fins and are required to hold their breath while underwater and playing the puck.

Lacrosse
Three Rochdale Lacrosse Club players were part of the England squad who won the inaugural LAX Under 20s European Championships in July.

The team, which included Rochdale players Daniel Madeley, 18, Tom Teal, 17, and Alex Halliday, 17, beat Germany in the final, whilst their fellow Rochdale teammate, Josh Croney, played for Wales in the same contest.

The Rochdale Lacrosse Club is one of the five oldest clubs in the UK with the sport having been played locally since 1888.

Judo
Rochdale Judo Club’s Isobel Kitchen, 16, Jake Brearley, 14, and Dave Hulme, 26, will be competing at the Commonwealth Judo Championships in Walsall in late September, the first to be hosted in England since the inaugural edition in 1986.

Isobel, who has been training for around nine years, placed ninth in the 2019 European Youth Olympic Festival in Azerbaijan in late July, after she was selected as one of the British Olympic Association’s 44 athletes representing Team GB.

The European Youth Olympic Festivals sees around 2,500 athletes from 48 European nations compete across 10 Olympic sports. She also won silver at the British Championships earlier that month, following on from previous golds at the 2019 English, Scottish and Irish open tournaments.

Jake and Dave were also selected for the British Teams Championships, winning bronze medals.