Jessica Lapworth

Sports Award

Age:

23

Biography

My name is Jessica Lapworth I am age 17 I love playing cricket and participate in all versions of the game. I live in Leicestershire and I have recently been selected represent England in the 2018 Junior indoor cricket world series In New Zealand in October.

I have so far played at club level for both male and female teams as well as county level and national league. This is first time that England have entered a junior team in this sport so it will be an exciting experience for all of us and give us a good chance to develop at the highest level from an early age. I am so proud and honoured to have been asked to play for England. I recently did a coaching course for Girls Active Sport the philosophy being that "This girl can", it was all about inspiring girls to participate in sport in a fun and relaxing way. Well I would like to show that "this girl did!" I want people to look at me and say "If she can then so can I!" I hope I can inspire other people to consider that if you work hard at your sport and in life and never give up then anything is possible. Hopefully my story will help others to recognise that participation in sport is great fun and can help with your physical and mental wellbeing.

Indoor Cricket is an amateur sport as such it means there is no funding so we are having to raise the fees for travel accommodation and kit ourselves and thanks to the generosity of the Joe Humphries trust I now have a really good platform to base my fund raising. When I read that I had received a grant from such a fantastic organisation I felt so humbled. Joe's story is very sad and moving, the trust is already doing such amazing work raising the awareness of sudden arrhythmic death syndrome which hopefully will save lives. They are helping young people like myself fulfil their dreams and I will do my best to keep people informed along the way.

Simon Taylor, Inspire lead, said: 'We are delighted to make this award to a young person who is not only an exceptionally high achiever but also wishes to encourage and inspire other young people to be the best they can.'