A rising teenage star in women’s rugby is hoping for Olympic glory when the event returns to the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio di Janeiro.
Trudi Mercer, 18, from West Kirby, has played for Caldy RFU, who joined with Liverpool and St Helens at the end of the 2010/11 season, for four years.
But she has to wait until rugby union is reintroduced for the Olympic Games in Brazil in five years.
The game was cast out after the Paris games in 1924 until the Olympic committee decided Rugby
Sevens will become one of the events in October 2009.
Miss Mercer said she will continue to compete in national and international games until she can realise her Olympic dream.
The winger, who has played for Cheshire, North West and North of England women's rugby teams, will also compete in the Sainsbury’s UK School Games in Sheffield in September.
She found out she had been selected to play for the national Rugby Football Union of Women (RFUW) team in the Rugby Seven’s event after achieving one A and two B’s in her A-level exams.
The promising athlete, who will go on to study physiotherapy at King’s College in London after the games, said: “I am delighted to have been selected for this event and I’m excited for my rugby career to progress by competing in this tournament.”
The country’s elite young athletes compete in the games which begin on 1st September for four days.
“It just feels like I’m going to competing in the Olympics which I’ve always dreamt of doing.
“I hope that when rugby union is reintroduced in the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio di Janeiro, including women’s rugby and I will be included in the team.
“Winning an Olympic medal would be an incredible achievement.
“I have already won the Best Tackler Award for the north of England and the team came second in the national festival of under-18s girl’s rugby in Gloucester in April this year.”
Miss Mercer is a keen sportswoman and has competed in tennis tournaments, dance and modern tap competitions since she was four years old.
But she admitted the Sheffield games would be a new experience for her and training for the Olympic-styled games has been intense.
“I have never had the opportunity to experience anything like this event with my other sports, even though I started playing Rugby when I was 14,” she said.
“Training in Cumbria playing sevens, which is a faster game than full 15 rugby union games, was so hard because it requires concentration on speed and agility as well as avoiding contact.
“But Seven’s makes us quick passers and better athletes on the field and I hope that the other teams have trained just as hard as me. I’m very competitive and want to win!”
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