Women's Sports News . . . from PembrokeshireSport.co.uk

page revision date: 11th August 2008

Emma Summons - an excellent sporting all rounder!

Emma Summons is a young lady in Pembrokeshire Sport who has competed at a greater variety of sports to county level and beyond than most because although she is just 20 years of age she has been involved in cricket, rugby, football, hockey, netball, athletics, cross country and badminton.
Emma hails from Johnston and is part of the Summons sporting family which includes dad John, mum Delyth and brother Lee, all of whom are actively involved. John plays cricket for Johnston and was a gritty scrum half with Haverfordwest, Delyth scores for Johnston and is treasurer at Haverfordwest RFC whilst Lee plays cricket for Neyland and rugby for the Blues!

Rugby mad

Small wonder then that she has always enjoyed taking part and her latest interest, and currently her favourite, is rugby because last season saw her playing at scrum half, like the two males in the family, for UWIC in Cardiff, playing against other university teams like Loughborough and Northumbria and also doing well against local ladies’ teams like Llandaff and Pontyclun. Emma and Co train twice a week and play twice as well, and she can’t wait to set out again for the new season.

Soccer skills

In her first season in university she played football for UWIC, turning out regularly at full back against the likes of Loughborough, Bath and Exeter, playing for Cardiff in the South Wales League and getting promoted there. Not content with that little lot she also represented Wales in a four team tournament in Holland, losing to the host nation but beating Finland and gaining a draw against Greece.

Cricketing keeper

Emma has also represented her country at cricket for a number of years, playing as a wicket-keeper/batsman and playing at under 13, under 15, under 17 levels as well as at senior level. She was also delighted to be invited by a team mate called Moira Comfort to play for the MCC ladies team in Staffordshire and readily admits that she really enjoyed the experience!
It all seems a long way from when she played with Johnston Juniors and then moved on to Neyland ladies. She keeps wicket there in a team which has won the league title for the last five seasons with players of the calibre of Kath Adams, Julie Garlick, Naomi James and the Morris girls – and won three cup finals as well. She also plays for Johnston men’s second team and also turns out for the college side and for St Fagan’s ladies team, where she has taken off the gloves and regularly bowls for them in the local league based around Cardiff.

Sporting all-rounder

During her time in school Emma also played hockey and netball for STP School and Pembrokeshire, playing for STP, Haverfordwest Ladies and South West Wales in hockey as a sweeper against representative teams from North Wales and East Wales. In netball she played for a school and Pembrokeshire at centre or wing defence and turned out for Rhymney last season but Emma has opted out of both sports at the moment, simply because she simply doesn’t have enough time to fit them in!
Emma started out in athletics as a 200m and 400m runner and was persuaded to take up the 400 metres hurdles after county success in both. She gave it a try and won the county competition before coming third in the Welsh Championships despite her inexperience!
It was a similar story on cross country because she was roped in to run it and won the school event before helping STP to victory in the county championships, where she was second runner home – and then was part of the county team which came first in the Welsh Championships at Brecon.
Emma tried her hand at badminton at Neyland and again found success when she joined her cousin, Lucy Rodriguez, in a partnership which won the county title for youth clubs and then they went on to come second in the national finals at Sophia Gardens in Cardiff.

Future hopes

It shows how versatile Emma is but talk to her and she is quick to play down her involvement, preferring to say how much fun she derives from her sporting involvement and forgetting details because the only thing that is important to her is taking part. When she finishes her degree course at UWIC she would like to come back to this area and be involved locally – and has already had a taste of what she can do as she helped Ben Field with the running of the recent festival of cricket for junior schools at The Racecourse in Haverfordwest. She also enjoys helping with SEN children and uses her infectious enthusiasm to good effect – and it is to be hoped that Emma Summons can find work in this area because she is a great asset to the sporting life of Pembrokeshire!