A Paisley student is looking to fly the flag for Great Britain and raise enough money to achieve her American dream.
Emily Luck, who lives in Paisley and attends the University of West Scotland (UWS) studying sports and exercise science at the Lanarkshire campus, has been selected to represent Team GB in the United States in ice hockey.
She only took up the sport four years ago and is looking to raise the money needed to compete in the International University Sports Federation championships (FISU) next year at Lake Placid, New York state.
Emily became interested in the sport after going to Braehead to watch Glasgow Clan which helped her fall in love with ice hockey.
It was from here that she reached out to learn-to-play team Lanarkshire Lightning which gave her confidence to skate and research the all-action sport.
She then joined Solway Sharks Ladies before moving on to her most recent team, the Caledonian Steel Queens, and has also turned out for university side Glasgow Stags.
Emily was spotted by a Steel Queens coach involved in selecting players for the FISU Winter Games and asked her to attend training.
Speaking to the Paisley Daily Express, Emily explained how it felt being part of those sessions then finding out that she had been picked to represent UWS and Great Britain stateside.
The 19-year-old, who works part-time at the Coffee Mill which is based in the Abbey Mill business centre in Seedhill Road, said: “I got asked to go along to a monthly training session that the GB team do, along with a few other players.
“I went for a few months and they started cutting the team down to the players that they wanted to keep and I was lucky enough to be one of them.
“I never thought that I would get to this point, especially this soon, but I am very happy to be going and representing Great Britain. I am thrilled to be going.
“Ice hockey has taken over everything that I do now ever since I started playing. One of my coaches said that, on the first training session I went to, I would either hate it or it would take over my full life.
“And it has taken over my life! I am training now most days a week and without it, I think that I would go mad.
“It would truly be amazing to walk out there representing Great Britain. Even thinking about the opening ceremonies and everything like that, I think it would be amazing.”
Emily is having to raise a considerable amount of money to be able to compete in the games.
Her initial goal is to raise £1,500 on her GoFundMe page with the cost of the trip just shy of £2,500. Flights to Heathrow and then over to America have still to be paid for on top.
Emily has praised the UWS for helping her have a shot at this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
She has commended lecturers for allowing her extra time to work as well as time off to train.
“Going to these games will be very helpful to me in terms of sports and my studies as I will be meeting athletes from all across the world,” she said.
“I am part of the sports scholarship at the UWS and they are helping me out a lot by making sure that I can get to the games.
“The university has also given me a free gym membership as well as free personal training sessions to allow me to be the best I can be.”
Ciaran O’Brien, head of sport at the university, says the facility does all it can to help people realise their dreams.
He said: “It is fantastic for Emily as we take sports seriously at UWS and we are working hard on how to support students on a dual career.
“For a couple of years now we don’t charge our students to use the gym on campus, as we try and support people to have a habit of physical activity whilst they are here.
“I am proud to be able to help those students to mix their sports and academic aspirations and achieve their dream."
To donate to Emily's fund, visit https://www.gofundme.com/f/gbu-world-winter-games
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