Neve McPhillie has set her sights on a Team GB Olympics place after winning bronze in her first ever major junior taekwondo event.
Mum Angela says taking third place at the Junior European Championships in Bosnia is beyond their ‘wildest dreams’, and admits nobody expected the 15-year-old to return with anything other than experience – but Neve is top four in Europe at her age group.
Neve, a pupil at St Andrew’s and St Bride’s High, is already on the Team GB pathway, and Angela intends to make sure there’s no doubt about her taking it on full-time.
Angela, from Lindsayfield, said: “That was her debut, not only for Team GB but in juniors too – she’s never fought in that age group at all.
“To come out in the top four is unbelievable.
“We couldn’t ask for more; we went in with absolutely no expectations other than that she had done amazing even to be selected to go.
“We said to use this as an experience. She only turned 15 in April there, and that age category is from 15 up until they turn into senior athletes, so we told her to go, enjoy the experience and never once thought she would win a medal.
“As a parent you think there might be a chance, but it’s ‘wildest dreams’, not really expecting it, and to go through four tough matches to get it, she certainly earned the medal.”
Neve tried taekwondo when she was six, but turned it down in favour of dancing until she came to a crossroads of what she wanted to do.
Having tried the sport again, with Jonathan McDade’s Elite Martial Arts Academy in East Kilbride, Neve quickly discovered a passion for it.
Angela said: “Neve competed because her brother did, but she pretty much took the Scottish circuit by storm.
“She has consecutively won the Scottish Open, but the club thought further than just Scotland, so started on the GB competition route.
“She never lost on British soil, then got spotted by Team GB, on their initial programme, which was the Cadets.
“We thought she could take it to the next level; Neve had won the British Nationals two weeks after having her tonsils out, so she had hardly trained.
“She did Paris, Germany and won the Dutch Open, and that was the door for her to start progressing and getting this portfolio acknowledged by Team GB.
“She then applied for Fighting Chance, which is GB’s development programme, so that’s the top athletes.
“She got through to the three stages of that, she got through to Boot Camp, and we found out she had been selected for that just as it had come through for the Euros.
“Neve (left) went down for test matches and beat three established girls, some of whom were full-time athletes in Team GB.
“We can’t believe how far she has come – Neve is a schoolgirl who goes and trains with Jonathan, but has got to the stage where she’s beating people who are on their country’s full-time athlete programme.
“Neve is very open and driven by what she needs to do, but on the flip-side she is still a girl, who likes to go out with her friends and is very down to earth.
“To get to this standard but still enjoy what she’s doing and keep up with her schoolwork, is amazing.”
Neve returned from Bosnia on TTuesday and was almost immediately sent down to Manchester to continue her training.
Angela added: “The point of the development programme is for her to progress through that and at the end of it, when they’re 17, they’ll be offered a place to train in Manchester full-time – that’s the aspiration, that’s what she’s looking to do.
“We’re actively looking at what we need to do now to get Neve ranking points so she has that portfolio.
“Instead of potentially having to go through a rigorous selection process and it be touch-and-go, we want to be in a position where we present her and there’s no doubt she’s No.1.
“Olympics is the dream, and to be 15 years old and do well at a major competition is unbelievable, so we just want Neve to continue building on that.
“She’s got a hunger for it and she’s up before us in the morning to go to her training first thing.”
Neve has been sponsored by Direct Engineering, who have provided support for her to compete internationally, and helped enormously to get her to Bosnia for the Junior European Championships.
Follow Lanarkshire Live Sport on Twitter via @LanLiveSport, like us on Facebook or find us on Instagram for the latest sports news, pictures and video.
