“I’d qualified for the Commonwealth Games, was due to go to the World Championships and the Olympics was the dream.”  

Assistant Director of Sport and Head of Girls’ Sport at LWC, Poppy Lake has quite the story to tell.

At 28 years old, she’s experienced more than some who are double her age. Each setback has provided her with an additional level of resilience that she’s keen to instil in the students she now works with.

“I started out as a dancer,” she explains. “I danced from the age of three up until around 15 and was a Junior Associate at the Royal Ballet. I thought I was going to be a dancer; on stage, in the West End, maybe cruise ships.” But there was a newcomer lurking in the shadows; another pursuit that would turn Poppy’s head and lead her along a different path.

“In a PE lesson one day, we started doing high jump,” she continues. “My teacher put up a pole and explained what to do. I had a go and they raised the pole a bit higher and then higher still. More and more people sat out but I carried on. I ended up breaking the school record the first time I tried it.”

A week later, she was competing in the County Championships as a girl called Katie; “They were planning to take someone else but couldn’t change the name. I ended up getting her to something like 15th in the UK.”

“I sold my soul for ten years to become a professional athlete and didn’t get anything from it. I think that’s what’s so good about LWC. We really do focus on other things.”

—Poppy Lake

What followed was a whirlwind of English Schools’ and international appearances as Poppy continued with her academic studies. This led her to Loughborough University, where she studied part-time for a degree in Sport and Exercise Science, alongside training hard.

“It was all about being a full-time high jump athlete,” she confirms. “In 2017, my coach gave me the week off and I went skiing. I love skiing and I’d been doing it since I was three. I was standing still waiting for my friend to come down the mountain and a person who’d been drinking skied into me.”

The repercussions were considerable. “I ruptured my ACL, my MCL and my LCL. I ruptured my hamstring, tore my calf and my meniscus,” she explains. “I phoned my coach and told him that I’d hurt my leg and it was bad. He told me to get back, go and see a surgeon and go from there. When I saw the surgeon, he told me that I’d never jump again. I didn’t believe him.”

If proof were needed that Poppy was determined to persevere with a career as a professional athlete, it’s the five operations she’s been through since then. A catalogue of injuries followed that fateful day on the slopes, culminating in a snapped Achilles in a freak training accident on Halloween, 2020.

“At this point, they told me I was done,’ she admits. “But I still didn’t believe them, so I carried on. After surgery and six months with my leg in a boot, my Achilles snapped again and that really was it. I lost my sponsorship and my lottery funding. People say that if you do 10,000 hours, ten years of working hard then you will make it. I was so close to making it.” She pauses for a moment and adds, “This is why I’m so protective of the girls here now. If you have an injury, you don’t push through.”

Whilst the initial accident which began a chain reaction of injury is now seven years ago, Poppy’s recovery is ongoing. “In December last year, I had an ACL transplant,” she said. “Someone who was a full-body donor was killed in a car accident and that’s all I know. He was a 40-year-old man and now I have his ACL, which is pretty amazing. I have to sometimes remind myself to be patient. I got a brand-new leg at Christmas last year and I need to remember that.”

Poppy’s story is one of grit and resilience. As Head of Girls’ Sport at LWC, she’s now keen to pass on the lessons learned along the way. “I sold my soul for ten years to become a professional athlete and didn’t get anything from it. I think that’s what’s so good about LWC. We really do focus on other things. Students here come out with a good education, lovely friends and good communication skills, as well as being good sportspeople. The kids here are in a really safe environment and they’re not afraid to make mistakes. They have so much support around them. An environment like this is lovely for kids to learn in.”

But is it ever difficult to watch the teenagers she coaches, competing in the sports that she can’t? “I enjoy seeing them make memories,” she explains. “I can still remember when my Year 7 netball team won the County Netball Championships. I sprinted up the court to my best friend and picked her up and spun her around. Seeing the kids make memories like that is amazing.”

Whilst she’s keen to cultivate talent, she also wants students to take it slowly. “They should just do all of the sports that they love. We encourage them to do three terms of sport here and to keep it broad. In the Sixth Form, they can start to specialise. I’m a big fan of keeping it fun and keeping it broad.”

When asked what she loves most about the job at LWC, it’s clear that providing positive life experience through sport is at the heart of it for Poppy. “That and when students wear the right kit,” she laughs. “And I would love for every girl to leave LWC knowing that exercise and sport are a part of them.” Despite everything, she concludes, “Physical wellness has so much to do with your overall well-being. I want people to leave here having that love and passion for movement instilled in them, whatever it is.”