'I can't wait to see my sport in the LA Games'

BBC News

a day ago

Athletes from across the West of England have spoken of their excitement about new sports and disciplines added to the Olympic Games, due to take place in Los Angeles, in 2028.Olympics' organisers announced last year that five new sports had been approved for inclusion in the games including cricket, squash, lacrosse, baseball and flag football.Some local players also spoke of their aspirations of making the Team GB squad.
Cricket
Cricket is due to be played at the LA Games in 2028 for the first time since 1900, when GB won gold in Paris.The England and Wales Cricket Board and Cricket Scotland have been in discussions in recent weeks to form a new entity called GB Cricket to oversee a team for 2028.One person who will be keeping an eye on that is 15-year-old seam bowler, Iris Edwards, from Stapleton, in Bristol. This year, she made her T20 international debut for Germany's senior side, thanks to her dual citizenship."People often think that cricket is a very boring sport and for older people", she told the BBC's Extra Time programme."If they watch it during the Olympics then they can see that it's very interesting and it's actually quite fun to play."
"We live really close to the ground", she said, referring to Stapleton Cricket Club."I started playing for a mixed team when I was 11 and I was the only girl."Miss Edwards currently plays for her home club and the North Bristol Girls Hub Cricket - a club for girls who play for clubs that do not have female-only teams, to practice playing against other girls.She also plays for the Gloucestershire County Development Squad and has also been picked to play for Germany."My dad found out there was a German under-15's squad", she said."One of the German coaches is based in Cardiff and they let me go do a couple of training sessions there," she explained. "I went to trials in Germany in January and I got picked for the squad. I was very nervous, I didn't know anyone there."Now that the T20 format is in the Olympics, Miss Edwards could be one of the athletes of the future.
Compound archery
In addition to new sports, existing ones have also seen new disciplines added to the Olympics, like compound archery.Someone who could not be more thrilled about it is world number one compound archer, Ella Gibson, from Cirencester.Miss Gibson, and her team mate Ajay Scott, became Archery World Cup stage 2 mixed team champions in Shanghai, as it was confirmed the discipline would be included in the Los Angeles line-up."Both of us were so happy and I spoke to my coach and there were some tears, it was just amazing news", she said.
"Compound archery is actually used for hunting in the US.""It's more compact than the archery you already see in the Olympics. It's more powerful and faster, and the dynamics of the bow and how it works is quite different.""The draw cycle, when you start pulling back the bow, starts at 60 lbs, so it's quite heavy. Archery definitely gives you stronger shoulders, for sure."Miss Gibson, 24, has held onto the world champion title for nearly three years and is hopeful of making it the Olympic Games. She and her partner Ajay will be able to earn a place either through world ranking or tournaments."The standard would be to pick the world championship's top three in 2027. So if we win a medal in mixed team that year, we're going.""Los Angeles is definitely on my mind", she added.
Squash
Squash players will compete for the very first time in the Olympics.With new sports, comes new venues that need to be built or repurposed.For example, Venice Beach - known for its iconic boardwalk - is hosting athletics, road cycling and triathlon. As for squash, it will take place on the Universal Studios Lot.Nathan Lake from Cheltenham - who now lives in the US - is a professional squash player thrilled at the thought of seeing his sport in the Olympic Games."It will be the pinnacle of our sport", he said.
Mr Lake currently plays squash for University Club of Chicago. Last year, he ranked 22 in the PSA World Squash Rankings. In March this year, he placed 42."This is my 14th season as a professional player. I've been playing squash for 23 years.""Squash has got a pretty strong place in clubs across the US, especially in cities like Philadelphia, New York, Boston and DC. And it's still growing.""As a professional player, I can play two thirds of my tournament schedule in North America if I want, which is fantastic."But at the age of 32, he doesn't hold strong hopes of making it to the LA Games."The reality is I'll be 35 by then and Team GB is so strong. I'm slightly becoming an older man which means my chances are quite low.""I'm extremely lucky that I've made a living playing a sport that I love. It's not something I negatively look at, I'm just excited for the sport."
Flag football
Another West Country local looking ahead to the Olympics now that his sport has been added to the line-up is Bristol Barracuda's coach and vice-president, Archie Wills-Johnson.Mr Wills-Johnson, who lives in Bristol and is originally from Cheltenham, discovered flag football - a form of non-contact American football - after suffering a serious spinal injury during a game.At the time he was linebacker for the University of Bristol's American football team."As I was injured I was able to play the game when I couldn't play contact sports and I would imagine that's similar to a lot of other people out there," he said.
In flag football, instead of tackling, defenders must pull a 'flag' from the waist of the attacking player with the ball.The sport has around 20 million players worldwide and a record number of nations took part in last year's flag football world championships, according to the NFL."It's more accessible and inclusive", said the 22-year-old."You can have mixed teams and it's growing quite rapidly."Asked if he had Olympic aspirations, Mr Wills-Johnson, who continues to balance his studies with the sport, said he is focused on coaching for now."Unfortunately I am retired at the moment, so I have been coaching mostly. But I am going to slow that down once I graduate", he said."It's been a realisation of what's best for me isn't necessarily running around sports, and I've actually taken up swimming more recently. My neck is getting better but there are some good and bad days."Speaking of Britain's chances in flag football, he seemed confident there's enough talent to form a GB team."We have more funding coming into the sport from Sport England and Sport UK", he added. "The bump could take both the men's, women's and junior teams to the European Championships next year.""And the women's team is our best team at the moment, they rank 5th in the world, which would likely qualify them to go for the Olympics. They are well and truly in the hunt for doing big things in three years' time."