BILLERICAY trampolinist Joshua Newman believes the Australian Youth Olympic Festival provides him with the perfect platform to prove Britain's worth in the sport as the road to Rio 2016 begins.
Britain failed to qualify a male athlete for the trampolining competition at the London 2012 Olympics with Kat Driscoll the only representative in the women's – something Newman wants to change.
The 14-year-old is brimming with confidence after surprising even himself to qualify for the Australian Youth Olympic Festival, which starts on January 16 in Sydney.
Newman, of Brentwood Trampoline Club, is no stranger to representing Britain after appearances in Germany and Bulgaria in 2012, but admits it can be overwhelming with so much at stake.
But featuring at a multi-sport event for the first time Down Under, Newman wants to come home a more experienced athlete – something that will only benefit him in the future.
"I can't wait for the trip now and I am just so excited to get out there. We didn't really know a great deal about the competition and I perhaps felt it was a little bit out of my reach," said Newman.
"But when I hit the scores it was fantastic and an amazing achievement for me to even get selected. It was two scores over two competitions that you had to get to qualify and I managed to do that.
"I represented Britain at the German Youth Match and the Sofia Cup in Bulgaria. It was really fun and you can stress a bit but you have to be able to deal with it.
"It is another experience for me and I am going there to do my best and learn from it all because I want to go to an Olympic Games myself.
"We had Kat Driscoll in London but we didn't have any men because they didn't qualify but I want to fill that gap and make sure next time we do have a male representative."
Newman will be just one member of Team GB's 120-strong squad travelling Down Under to compete against 1700 athletes from 30 different countries in 17 different sports across five days of competition.
And, admitting all he can think about is his dream of becoming a fully-fledged Olympian, the Billericay School pupil just wants to perform to the best of his ability.
"All I think about is getting to the actual Olympic Games so this is a great step for me and will give me a feel for what it might be like one day," he added.
"I want to be able to get to the final and achieve what I know I am capable of and if I do that, I will be happy. I want to show male trampolining has an exciting future."
The British Olympic Association prepares and leads British athletes at the summer, winter and youth Olympic Games. It works in partnership with sport National Governing Bodies to enhance Olympic success and is responsible for championing the Olympic values. www.olympics.org.uk
