Grantham Tennis Club wheelchair players bring home the medals

Grantham Tennis Club and Gym's wheelchair tennis players Ella Coleman, Alice Dyer and Isabel Collier represented England North and brought home four medals between them at the School Games held at Loughborough University from September 1 to 4.

The girls competed against four wheelchair tennis teams – England South, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.

They were coached by current women's world number 35 and multiple School Games medallist Abbie Breakwell, Antony Cotterill, men's quad world number 28, and inclusive tennis coach Andy Bell.

Alice was the number second seed in the singles and received a bye in the first round. She progressed to the final, losing out to the number one seed from Wales, 4-1, 4-1, to take the silver medal.

The doubles saw Alice and Isabel pair up as the number two seeds and beat the number one seeds from Wales 4-1, 4-2 (4), to win gold.

Alice and her partner from Scotland took on Ella and her partner from Northern Ireland in the mixed doubles third-place play-offs. Ella and her partner won the bronze medal in a close match with a 4-3 (4), 4-2 scoreline.

All the girls battled against medical problems and saw more of the medical team than they would have liked. One even went to hospital midway through the games. Their commitment to the sport is outstanding.

Ella said: "Bronze medals in the mixed doubles with Brady Chambers was incredible considering earlier in the week we did not think I would be able to play at all. It was the best few days of tennis and spending time with friends."

Alice said the School Games had been been some of the best days of her life. She said: "I have played so much tennis, smiled so hard, made amazing new friends and most of all, proved a lot of people wrong. For a girl who spent her summer holidays in and out of hospital, it's not bad to come away with a silver in singles and gold in doubles!"

Isabel said she had an incredible time at the Games. She said: "Although my singles match, unfortunately, didn't end how I hoped due to the nerves overcoming me, I made a comeback in the girls' doubles with the one and only Alice Dyer, in which we reached the final and came out with the gold.

"A huge thank you to Andy Bell for being an amazing coach and supporting me through both the good and bad times. Congratulations to all the other medal winners and players this weekend.”