Tennis: Morven wins GB selection

Published on Saturday 27 June 2009 11:11

EDINBURGH tennis player Morven McCulloch will represent Team GB along with 60 other young athletes at the European Youth Olympic Festival (EYOF) in Tampere, Finland from 18-25 July.

Morven, 15, a pupil at St George's School in Edinburgh, said: "I really didn't expect to be picked so it's a great honour to be selected and I'm really looking forward to it."

Morven last month marked her debut in a senior event by qualifying for the main draw in the $10,000 tournament in Edinburgh.

"The 2012 Olympics is a big goal of mine so the experience of playing in the Youth Olympics will be amazing. Once I've experienced this type of event and atmosphere then it will help me prepare a lot better for an event of this size in the future."

The tenth EYOF will include almost 2500 athletes from 49 European nations competing in nine sports: athletics, cycling, gymnastics, judo, swimming, tennis, basketball, handball and volleyball. Participating athletes will be between 13 and 16.

Morven, originally from St Andrews, has attended the Scottish Tennis Academy in Edinburgh for the past two years under its head coach Marcel du Coudray. She has also received support from the Tayside & Fife Institute of Sport.

"The Academy is really good, there's loads of support from both coaches and I play loads of tennis, up to 15 hours a week," she said. "At the moment I'm working on being aggressive from the baseline, particularly with my forehand. The Tayside & Fife Institute of Sport gives me nutritional and strength and conditioning support. It's really helpful because I know what I need to work on and what I need to do to improve."