Mollie good show for Trent Valley Academy student

The Year 9 pupil, pictured left, jumped 4.31m to take fourth place, and although it was some way off the youngster’s personal best, PE teacher Donna Marsh paid tribute to her efforts.

She told the Standard: “Mollie’s personal best is 4.49m, so she says it was a bad performance, but it’s only the third time she’s competed this year. She’s not a club athlete, she just does it through school because she’s got other commitments like dancing.”

“It’s fantastic, you don’t usually see athletes at that level who aren’t at a club. To get that far without a proper coach is a brilliant achievement, and great for us as a school.”

Donna insists that Mollie isn’t the only sporting talent being developed at Trent Valley Academy.

“We’re getting better,” she said. “We’ve had a lot of success with sports teams this year.”

“When we go to competitions now we’re winning things, whereas when I started we were around the bottom end of competitions.”