Basketball: Local player chosen for Commonwealth Games team

Mollie Campbell has made the final Commonwealth Games team

A local basketball player has been chosen for the England squad at the forthcoming Commonwealth Games in Australia.

Mollie Campbell, 23, from Whitworth, flew out to Brisbane on Thursday (22 March) ahead of the international sporting event on Australia’s Gold Coast, which opens on 4 April.

Mollie, the youngest player in the England squad, currently plays for Leicester Riders and the Great Britain Women's team, is a third-year student at Loughborough University, where she is studying sports design and technology.

Her basketball career began at the age of 12, when she followed in her brother’s footsteps and took up the sport, playing for Manchester Mystics.

A former pupil at Bacup and Rawtenstall Grammar School, Mollie’s talent has seen her travel the world, even studying on a basketball scholarship for two years in Arkansas, America.

Her proud mum, Fiona Harrisson, said: “It’s just been a whirlwind and the whole family are thrilled to bits. Mollie trains all the time; her life revolves around basketball and she wants to play professionally.

“You don’t think of someone from Whitworth going to the Commonwealth Games, and I think she is such a good role model for young girls in sport. The UK team are anticipated to do well at the games, and they have won all of their recent games in Europe.

“Basketball is the best thing that ever happened to her.”

Mollie’s previous achievements include playing at an international level, helping the England U16 team win a silver medal in the European Championship and competing in the GB U20s Division B European Championships in Montenegro.