A TEENAGE archer from Chelmsford has set her sights on the 2020 Olympics.
Sophie Cole, 18, has just received her latest grant from The Essex and Southend Sports Trust (EASST), which will enable her to step up her preparations for selection school, where she hopes to be able to earn the chance to compete internationally this year.
She is already part of the Great Britain Academy Squad, and is on a ten-year programme which will hopefully end up with her standing on the podium in the 2020 Games - for which the venue is to be decided later this year.
"My goal is to get into the 2020 Olympics," she said. "I wouldn't say 2016 will come too soon, but I would say that it would be a plus if I was considered but 2020 is the one I really want to get into.
"At the moment I'm on year two of a 10-year programme.
"We're trying to bring the standard of archery up in our country. The Mexicans have done it but it takes about 10 years to medal."
Sophie competes locally for the Chelmsford Tudor Rose club, and she has enjoyed good progress since taking up the sport at the age of ten.
"I got into it because my friend used to do it," she added. "She invited me along and I did it as a hobby.
"A few months into it I was scoring scores near to my friend and she'd been doing it for three years. It's been a pretty long journey. At the beginning it was just a hobby and I would only shoot once a week.
"Within a year I'd done my first international and had a European Gold Medal in Finland.
"I started doing Field Archery which is different, you're shooting on cliffs, up hills, down hills and so on, but there isn't any recognition in field archery so I got on to target archery and in my first national competition I came second.
"I think I was about 12 so I got more involved in that but it wasn't until I was 16 or 17 when I got into the national squad. It's a performance academy and it's got a lot more serious since then."
Sophie juggles her archery commitments around studying childcare at Chelmsford College, with an eventual aim of becoming a primary school teacher.
Last summer, Sophie was able to watch Olympic archery up close, including her hero Alison Williamson, who has appeared in six Games in her career.
Sophie added: "I was a young games maker at the Olympics and I was collecting the arrows from the targets, so I got to meet the Olympians.
"With my Academy GB team we sat and watched the Olympics with Alison WIlliamson's dad. She's my inspiration."
Sophie is one of ten Sports Ambassadors connected to the Riverside and Ice Centre in Chelmsford and she received a cheque for £1,000 from Joe Sims of EASST at the centre earlier this week. She said: "The sponsors have been absolutely amazing. We wouldn't have been able to afford any of the trips without them to be honest."
Mr Sims added: "We provide sports funding for individuals like Sophie, clubs, disability sports and organisations across Essex.
"Where we can help, we will. Sophie and Daisy Clark are both doing really well. Daisy has other sponsors too, which is great.
"It's very gratifying when you see people progress through just a little bit of help."
For more information about EASST, visit www.easst.org.uk.
