After ten years of competitive sporting achievements, a 15-year-old has swapped her netball bib for a whistle as she becomes Harrow’s youngest coach.

Mia Gordon, who is in Year 10 at Rooks Heath College in Eastcote Lane, South Harrow, has been a keen sportswoman for more than ten years.

Mia originally dedicated her days and nights to her first love, basketball, but is now keen on netball and kickboxing, 

She said: “I always was a bit of a tomboy, always wanting to play with the boys and do a lot of different sports.

“I remember when I was younger I bought a basketball kit from H&M and just realised I loved the sport, and played it all the time, whenever I could.”

Starting at a school level, the now 15-year-old swiftly moved up through the ranks to play at regional, London and national competitions.

She began to get a lot of injuries through the sport, and when she started college at Rooks Heath a few years ago, a teacher who had been watching her play recommended she try out netball.

Mia said: “I kept on getting so many injuries when competing, like my knees, my wrists.

“Netball is a bit like basketball really, only a bit slower paced so I felt I would be less likely to injure myself. I got really stuck in.”

After rising through the ranks in her new sport, Mia soon found herself to be too old to play in many of the teams she had previously competed with.

Having just finished her first round of GCSEs, she has hung-up her netball bib and become the youngest sporting coach in Harrow, hoping to take her team to victory in the London Youth Games in a few weeks time.

She said: “I ended up going to the London Youth Games with my netball team for two years, and then I decided I wanted to start coaching because I got too old to compete, but still wanted to be part of the teams and the club.

“Coaching is brilliant because you can see things from outside the game or off the court that you wouldn’t see if you were playing.

“I can tell the team what to improve on when I’m watching them like that, and sometimes it can help me too because I realise I’m making the same mistake when I play.

“It’s just the fun of watching people’s progress.”

Along with netball, she also teaches after-school kickboxing classes to pupils aged four and up at Premier Martial Arts, and is due to take her black belt exam in the coming weeks.

In the future, Mia hopes to go to college to help her get the right qualifications so she can study physiotherapy at university and later go on to work for the NHS.