Molly the marvel reflects on European Youth triumph

Beach volleyball player Molly Quinn praised SportsAid’s support for making the long journeys all worth it. 

The 15-year-old from Barnstaple claimed Northern European Youth gold earlier this year alongside playing partner Alice Jagielska. 

Quinn, who regularly has to travel from North Devon to London to train believes it would not have been possible with the support of the charity. 

“I think where we live, we live in North Devon, we live right out the way on the other side of the country and the amount of travel we have to do, to London at least three times a month. 

“My partner lives in London, our coaches are London-based so when I train with her we have to go to London, back and forth across the country all the time with cars breaking down!  

“SportsAid has helped me massively, so me and my partner got picked to go the European Championships for Under18 and Under 20s. 

“They were going to cost about £1,000 each and without SportsAid there is no way I would have been able to afford to compete out there.” 

Quinn, who attends Pilton Community College, triumphed on home sand alongside Jagielska but still faced a marathon trip up to Bridlington to do so. 

The Fireball Club player believes it was all worth it to see her family cheering her on as they claimed the title. 

She added: “My most influential family member is definitely my mum; I wouldn’t be anywhere without her. 

“She got me into the sport, she takes me up and down the country multiple times a month. I definitely wouldn’t be anywhere without her. 

“My family all came and watched, they were all there, up in Bridlington so it was on home turf which was really exciting.  

“When we won, we had a proper medal ceremony, sang the anthem, mum was crying, it was amazing.” 

 SportsAid Live, hosted by Marsh McLennan, brought together over 40 athletes and their families, across more than 20 different sports, to meet each other and share their experiences and knowledge, while also benefitting from mentoring and valuable workshops in areas such as mind health, sleep, performance, wellbeing and building your brand.