Alexandria taekwondo star Jaimie Singleton set to take exam to European Championships

The 17-year-old Vale of Leven Academy pupil will sit Higher Physics whilst she's in Slovakia.

Alexandria taekwondo star Jaimie Singleton is set to represent Scotland in April – even though it means travelling with her Higher Physics exam paper.

The Vale of Leven Academy pupil, 17, will travel as part of the Scotland team to Bratislava in Slovakia for the event later this year and it will mean sitting a paper in the run-up to the event.

Originally Jaimie had planned to take a break from competitions to concentrate on her studies, however after running the current World and European champion close last year she’s now determined to go one better in 2020.

Proud mum Lorna explained: “She wasn’t going to go this time because it interferes with her exams, but after getting so close to beating the current European and World Champion it has given her new inspiration.

“Missing out now would be devastating.

“This is a really important school year for her, one of the team managers is a registered invigilator with the SQA and so she’s taking her physics exam with her to sit whilst everyone else is away.”

Despite coming close to a shock result last year it was Jaimie’s first experience of an event of that scale.

Lorna continued: “The event was the biggest one that we had competed at, but it was also the biggest turnout to date of competitors for that competition.

“That was quite daunting for Jaimie with it being her first fight with the team, and she basically had to get out on the centre stage straight away.

“She’s changed a lot since then as a fighter. She was put out by the eventual winner of the division and so to get there and only lose out by a few points was a massive boost to her confidence.

“To be on centre stage totally changed her, we’ve had a couple of competitions since then and she’s a totally different person – and that’s me as her mum saying that.”

And Lorna is now asking local businesses for their support as Jaimie gets set to rack up even more air miles this year.

She added: “Thanks to sponsors we didn’t have to pay for her to go out there, which meant that we could go – and that means a lot when it’s your daughter fighting at such a big event because you want to be with her and make sure that everything’s okay.

“She’s got Nirvana Therapy based in Alexandria on board, and they help her with her preparation. We can’t thank Bobby enough for his support. They give by far the best sports massage she’s had and their belief has been massive throughout her whole journey.

“The Provost is also making another donation to help out which means a lot, and we received a Talented Sports Person grant from West Dunbartonshire Council too which was a massive help. We used it to fund her entry fee and hotel for the Dutch Open and the rest went towards accommodation for the European Championships.

“We’ve gone back to the Co-op to see if we can get another bag-packing campaign sorted too, but if any local businesses were keen to make a donation then that’s something we’d really, really appreciate.”

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