If ever there was anyone destined to succeed in badminton then it has to be 12 year old Lowri Hart, of Pembroke Dock, because her older sister Jordan is ranked No 1 at senior level for Wales and she already carries identical status in the under 13 age group after similar encouragement from parents Mandy and Derek Hart.
 
Lowri is National Champion in singles, where she fended off the strong challenge from other youngsters at the National Centre of Excellence in Sophia Gardens in Cardiff, like Kelly Yip, who is her doubles partner as she and Lowri are also girls' doubles champs.
 

Following in the family footsteps

 
Lowri used to go to watch her big sister play so when dad Derek, who is known to all as 'Menace', asked if she would like to play she jumped at the chance - and like her big sister, Lowri also started out at the Pembroke Dock Junior Badminton Club under the watchful eye of Phil Gwyther and took to it straight away, like a duck to water,
 
She was barely nine years old then and from there Lowri joined the South West Development group in Carmarthen, with head coach Huw John and his assistant Gary Clarke putting her through her paces every Wednesday, using her 'Lucky Racquet' given to her by Jordan.
 
"It is a Yonex 'Votric 80'" Lowri told us, "and I can't play in tournaments with anything else.
 

Great family support

 
"Mum and dad take me off to competitions as often as possible on the weekends, sometimes two or three times in a month, and I know it costs a lot but mum and dad are brilliant taxi drivers and for big events in places like Cardiff I know that Jordan will try and get down from Loughborough if she isn't playing somewhere herself."
 
It is nice to report that the Hart sisters are the best of pals and it is evident that Lowri thinks there is no-one like Jordan - hence the 'Lucky Racquet' - and Jordan is ful of praise for the way that Hart junior has stuck to the task and playing with confidence and style.
 

Positive early pointers

 
Perhaps the first indication of Lowri's potential came in a home competition at Pembroke Leisure Centre when she was in the under 11 category and took on the current Welsh champion of the time.
 
Lowri was understandably setting out as underdog but played with real flair and commitment to win the match, and the tournament, in style - and it was the start of a remarkable run of successes in her own country to allow her to main a proud unbeaten record anywhere in the Principalty which is still continued to the present day,
 

Overcoming travel problems to win silverware

 
From there, Lowri has spread her winning wings to plenty of local competitions and in Cardiff against the pick of our best players and now there is the need to travel further afield, especially to England, to widen her experience - and although Mandy and Derek would play down the fact that they are happy to drive upwards of 25,000 miles each year there is no doubt that the costs are prohibitive, since the family live so far west.
 
"We found exactly the same with Jordan and so must support Lowri," admitted Mandy, "but any form of sponsorship would be brilliant so that Lowri can reach her full potential."

One of Lowri's chances to spread her badminton wings came in the West Midlands Championships and after a long haul to Birmingham made the long journey home with the bronze medal, after playing all the best players from all over the country.
 

Courts needed nightly – so Pembrokeshire Leisure have been helpful

 
Lowri is clearly a very talented young player but there is no doubt that her skills are matched by her commitment as she tries to play every evening at  Pembroke, Milford Haven or Haverfordwest, ably assisted by Mandy, who phones around during the day to see if a courst is available before contacting Mark Hubbard (Neyland), who does such great work, along with Derek when he's home from his work as a long-distance lorry driver. It goes without saying that Lowri beats both on a regular basis!
 
"We have been lucky that Pembrokeshire Leisure has been really helpful in providing us with good facilities and we are hoping that will continue because without it we would have even greater difficulty with our costs!
 

Representative honours already

 
Ask Lowri about ambitions for the future and one of the first comments would be,
"To keep improving and one day to beat my sister in badminton."
 
This will the second season that Jordan has been involved in the Welsh Under 13 squad since her selection has already been notified to her family by top officials as proof of their continued confidence in her.
 
Last season she represented Wales in Scotland as an individual and in the team event against girls a year older than she was - and played well until she bowed out against the eventual winner, who is so physically strong that she is already playing in some under 17 competitions!
 

More experience gained at the top level

 
Lowri is now in her final year in this age group and already has a great deal of experience in UK competitions and even further away,  For example, she travelled to Olve, in Belgium, with the Welsh team and took on the best players from the home country, France, Denmark and Germany.
 
"We played the competition on a round-robin' basis," Lowri told us, "and I was chuffed to be the only Welsh girl to make it out of my box and into the quarter finals before again bowing out to the eventual winner of the huge competition!"
 
Such strong performances at such a tender age have already earned Lowri promotion from Gold to Gold Star status in her age bracket, based on the fact that when Wales travelled to the Celtic Challenge against Scotland and Ireland (for the second time) she lost to the eventual winner in the semi-final but was delighted with her bronze medal against a much older opponent.
 
There are sadly no caps awarded to the players of this age but they will come soon enough for someone of Lowri’s potential.
 

And finally . . .

 
Ask Lowri about ambitions for the future and one of the first comments would be,
"To keep improving and one day to beat my sister in badminton."
 
She regularly travels up to Loughborough for extra coaching from Jordan and says that this is brilliant because big sister is clearly her idol.
 
“We get on really well and I am very proud of the way Lowri has developed,” Jordan told us, “because she is like me in the fact that she believes working hard and listening to good advice is the best way forward.
 
“It would be great if one day we become Welsh ladies doubles champs and then take it on from there. But in the meanwhile I just want her to carry on enjoying herself because she is a little star!