Emma Stoner is a first year student-athlete at the University of Nottingham studying in the Faculty of Arts. Emma joins our scholarship programme as one of the top ranked para-badminton players in the country, and 2022 national champion in the women's singles and doubles. We recently spoke to Emma about her first month at the University, and were also deligthed to find out more about her journey in the sport so far.
Great to meet you Emma. Firstly, could you tell me a little bit about your background and how you got into the sport?
I’m from London and when I’m back home I train at Wimbledon rackets club, which is one of the top performance centres in England. I’ve been training there since I was eight years old. I started playing in a disability badminton session as a junior, and then I started playing in some tournaments before being picked up at a county trial. After joining the county squad it started to pick up from there really.
What was it about the sport that got you hooked?
Well, my two older brothers played when they were younger and it’s been our family sport ever since really! Our parents were keen for me to get involved with the sport too. With the para-sport aspect too it was also therefore easily accessible for me. As I mention, we’re all really keen badminton players and so there’s always been a lot of badminton going on! I tried a lot of sports as a kid – rugby, tennis, and ballet (but that didn’t go well!) – but I really felt badminton was the sport for me.
When I first started, a lot of my training and playing was with able-bodied players, before I started working with Richard Morris – the Team GB Para-Badminton Head Coach. I went to my first European Championships at the age of 13 with Richard as my coach and have just continued competing internationally from there.
I’ve also had the chance to do a lot of exciting things through badminton, such as playing an exhibition at the All-England Badminton Championships which was a really cool experience playing in front of a massive crowd so I’m happy with the choice!
On the academic side, what’s your experience been like at the University Of Nottingham so far?
It’s been really enjoyable. I’m in my first year studying Liberal Arts. I did a random mix of A-Levels and Liberal Arts has helped me to continue those, so we’ll see how it goes! One of those subjects I studied at A-Level was Psychology and I’ve really enjoyed continuing to study that here because I can apply aspects of the material to my sport and the mental areas of my play when I’m on court.
You touch on it briefly there - how has it been to combine the studies with your sport?
It’s been really good so far. Having access to physio and strength and conditioning has already made a big difference to my game so far - I’m already starting to feel a lot stronger which is really good. Having access to a sports psychologist has also been really helpful. As a para-athlete, the team within the performance badminton programme have just brought me straight in and given me the opportunity to perform against some of the top university players in the country, as well as compete in a BUCS team. The experience has been really good so far.
Have you always wanted had the aim of studying at university alongside playing your sport?
Going to university has always been in the back of my mind and because Nottingham has a lot of good links with the GB Para-Badminton programme in Sheffield it was always going to be a good choice for me to study here. My brothers also both went to university and played sport whilst studying so they’ve definitely been able to give me advice on what to do! There’s also a really good Para-Badminton community here which it’s great to be a part of. Rob Donald and Sean O’Sullivan are great players within the club and it’s really nice to be able to add to that group here at the University of Nottingham.
Are there any particular strengths to your game, or any areas you’re looking to improve?
I would say that my cross-slice is a strength to my game. As a lefty, I can get a lot of different angles on my shots. In terms of weaknesses, when I play against able-bodied athletes my movement can be a slight struggle. When I’m playing other para-athletes I can play against certain weaknesses for them, but when I come up against able-bodied players I’m usually running around pretty hard to see what I can pick up!
Do you play singles and doubles?
I mainly play singles. As a junior at county level I played singles, doubles and mixed doubles, but in the recent international competitions I’ve focused on singles because I think that’s going to be my main pathway in the future.
What are your aims whilst here at the university, and then into the future?
My aim as a sport scholar at the University of Nottingham is to keep on enjoying playing and training, and to keep on getting stronger. I have a weakness in my right hand side, so working with the strength and conditioning team here will hopefully continue to help me when I go to play internationally. I’m hoping to make the full-time GB programme in Sheffield after I achieve my degree, and then look to qualify for the 2028 Paralympics in Los Angeles. If that happens, then hopefully the aim is to win a medal – we’ll see how it goes!
What would your advice be to people who are thinking about combining sport and academic studies at the University Of Nottingham?
I would say that you need to try and get as organised as possible because it can be busy! Trying to get the balance of sport, academics and social life is tricky but once you’re on top of that it’s a great experience. At the minute I do two strength and conditioning sessions a week alongside 7am training every day so it is pretty busy but I’m really enjoying it!
We would like to thank Emma for her time and wish her the very best during her time here at the University, which will hopefully include plenty of success for the #GreenandGold, before international success in the future.
You can find out more about
sport scholarships at the University of Nottingham here, as well as discover more about
our Performance Badminton programme here.
Posted on Thursday 26th October 2023