At the age of 13, young Jess Varley is anything but average. A Form Two student at Oundle School, she is best known for her sporting talents, which are just astounding.

At the age of 5, Jess got her first pony, and from then on, her passion for riding grew. Her talent for running was discovered when she was at Stamford’s Copthill School where she amazed everyone with her talent. Her other talents in shooting, swimming and fencing followed suit. She started to compete competitively in tournaments at the age of 11 in 2006.It was the same year she was enrolled in the Burghley Pony Club. She has now done more than eight events ranging from cross country, biathlon, triathlon, tetrathlon and pentrathlon. Having a personal best of three minutes seven seconds for 1000m, at the age of 13 shows signs that she might just well be a successful athlete in a few years time.

Jess agrees that in order to thrive, goals need to be set so that there is something to aim for. She believes the best way to set goals are to make sure they are high and also realistic. Her immediate goal is to do well in the National Biathlon Championship, which she just qualified for a few weeks ago. This is then followed by getting to the top of her group in the Pony Club Championship at Shelford on the 19-23 August. By the end of next year, she hopes to break into the top three in the country for her age group in tetrathlon. As an athlete, the pinnacle of one’s dream career has to be entering a world meet and the same goes for Jess. With excitement and confidence, Jess tells of her dream of entering the London Olympics in 2012 and competing for a medal in front of her home crowd.

In order to achieve her goals and dreams as an athlete, Jess commits a lot of time training, knowing that talent alone will not win her medals or get her into the Olympics. On a weekly basis, she spends a combined time of eight hours running and swimming, alongside riding on Fridays evenings and on Sundays. During holidays or term breaks, she tries to ride as much as she can and attends courses for fencing at Mill Field, Somerset. Little time is spent on improving her fencing and shooting skills as facilities are limited and this puts her at a disadvantage against her competitors. However, Jess always feels optimistic and believes that her talent in running and riding puts her back into the game.

Being an aspiring athlete has never stopped Jess from pursuing other interests. To her, education is still her main priority, as she dreams as being a veterinarian, which could be influenced by her love for animals. It is impressive how she can organise her training so that it fits in with her school commitments, demonstrating great time management. Not satisfied with being average, she tries hard to make sure she gets the grades. When asked how was it possible, her answer was simple, her mom. Her mother has been the driving force being Jess’ success in both sports and academics. With her mother being a former England 800 and 1500m runner, Great Britain lacrosse player and cross-country runner, it is plain to see where Jess inherits her talents from. Mrs Varley has been there to help Jess through all the hardship of training and school. According to Jess, everything she has achieved was made possible by the support and love she receives from her mother, alongside everyone else.

Although full of self confidence, Jess tries to be realistic by saying that the probabilities of her being in the Beijing Olympics are very slim, having taken into account her age, but she promises to try hard to enter the London Olympics and make all of us proud.