Tell us about your journey into badminton?
I started playing when I was six years old, my mum and dad played a little when they were younger. They got me and my brothers and sister into the sport aged six. I joined the national junior team at 10 years old. I slowly progressed into the Glasgow School of Sport which was when I was 12 to 17. Then I got into the national senior team at 17/18 and kept going from there and that is to me now at 22 still in the national team and still enjoying it.
How did you first make the step up from playing at junior level to national level?
It wasn’t the biggest step because I feel like we were taken away as juniors to the European circuit and played in tournaments abroad. So, we knew what level we were doing because at those tournaments in Europe we managed to compete with the top guys. I feel like we knew how much work we had to put in to keep at that level. The first couple of years going into the senior level is obviously hard going from being a junior and then straight into playing guys who are maybe five, six years older than us, but we managed to move into the circuit quite quick and now we are trying to compete against the top guys, which is good.
Tell us about your career highlights so far?
I would definitely say trying to win the 2021 Scottish Open, that was probably the biggest highlight so far, but there’s been quite a lot of highlights. Another one I would say was winning the Scottish Nationals, which was a really good achievement for us. But also, being selected for the Commonwealth Games is right up there and I can’t wait for Birmingham.
How is training going and how has the last year been for you generally ‘coming out of covid’?
It was obviously quite tough during COVID. There were some points of lockdown where we weren’t able to actually go on court at all. But it was nice getting back out on the court after a few months of not being able to play or even hit a shuttle. But it’s nice just being back on court and being able to train freely.
How has this season gone for you so far?
I think it’s going really well. It’s hard to say we’re doing well results-wise because we’re playing a lot of the stronger competitions against the top guys in the world. But I feel like just being at those competitions is going to help us get to that next level, just competing against these top guys so we know what level we need to get to.
What do you do outside badminton? – How do you like to switch off away from the court?
I’ve got two dogs that keep us busy. One is just a puppy so we always have to have our eyes on her but that keeps our mind off badminton being around the dogs, they’re both golden retrievers, Ellie is one years old, and Tess is just eight weeks.
Tell us about your memories of the Commonwealth Games?
We actually went to watch the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, so that was nice to go see and inspired us to want to get to that point at one point. It’s nice having it on home soil in Glasgow but obviously, Birmingham is nice and close as well. So hopefully, there’ll be a lot of home support there.
What are your ambitions for the rest of 2022 – both for Birmingham and beyond?
I’ll probably be looking just to focus on Commonwealth Games as the main thing but after the Commonwealth Games, three weeks later we’ve got the World Championships in Japan, so we’re hoping to do quite well there and just try our best and get a few good results.
What are your goals for the next 4-5 years?
I would probably be hoping to compete in the Olympic Games, that’s probably one of the main goals but other than that, just trying to compete with the top guys on a regular basis. Try and get within the top 20 in the world would be quite a big goal of mine as well, so we’ll be aiming for that over the next few years.
