XXI Club member Olivia Wimpenny competes for GB and England Lacrosse
Since the age of 12 Liv has dreamt of competing on the senior world stage for lacrosse. Having had a glimpse of what this would be like in 2012 competing in the Senior Europeans where England won bronze, Liv’s dream came true this summer. Liv was chosen to represent England at the World Cup, Baltimore (25th June - 9th July), followed by representing Great Britain at the World Games, Alabama (10th July - 17th July).
The World Cup is the largest event for the 10 aside game with 30 nations competing to win. England were placed in the top seeded pool along with Australia, Canada, Scotland and USA. During pool play they beat Australia and Scotland, and unfortunately fell to USA and Canada. England went onto beat Wales and Israel to get them into the semi final vs Canada. Having played Canada already, England felt confident they could make it a close game and get themselves a spot in the Gold medal game. After putting up a huge fight England narrowly lost to Canada 11-9 and would face Australia in the Bronze medal match. Having already played Australia once and beating them 12-4, England knew that Australia would come out fight and that they did - the game went to overtime and with both teams having opportunities on goal it was hard to call which team would come out on top. Thankfully when the final whistle went it was in England’s favour and they were to bring home the bronze.
From one competition to the next, Liv flew straight down to Alabama to compete in the first ever international 6 aside lacrosse competition at The World Games. The 6 aside format of the game is one that is currently going for Olympic inclusion in LA, 2028. There were only 8 countries asked to compete, and Great Britain had Canada, Haudenosaunee and Israel in their pool. Winning 2 out of 3 games, GB faced top seed USA from the other pool in the semi-final and unfortunately lost. GB were to face Australia in the bronze medal game and with many tired legs this sadly did not go their way. The World Games was an incredible experience, competing alongside other GB athletes and getting a taste for what it would be like to take part in a format similar to that of the Olympics.
Overall, Liv had an amazing 3 weeks and can't wait to get back training as she looks ahead to the World Cup in 2026 and fingers crossed the Olympics in 2028.