Island Games: Representing Jersey still special for O'Sullivan

Jersey archer Lucy O'Sullivan is busy. As a roving reporter for World Archery, already this year she has jetted off to the likes of Colombia, China and Turkey. Back home in Jersey she's a personal trainer, on her feet driving clients forward.

At the weekends she's behind the microphone again, for local BBC Radio Jersey sports programming. In amongst it all there's archery practice to schedule in. One suspects there isn't much space in the diary.

O'Sullivan's seemingly always on the move. A complete contrast to the requirements of her sport, which demands a still, composed body and a steady hand.

Next week she's on her travels again, but this time the destination is a little closer to home as she'll proudly pull on the Jersey kit for her third Island Games, in Guernsey. Despite having reached the very top levels of British archery a decade or so ago, it's clearly an event that still means an awful lot to her.

"This will be my first multi-sport event since Covid, so I'm excited to be on the boat on Friday with all the other athletes," she told thegantry.je.

"I've represented Great Britain so many times, but representing Jersey is something special. It's my home and having our flag on our back is something I'm so proud of."

O'Sullivan has two golds, three silvers and a bronze medal to show for her efforts at her two previous Island Games appearances. Twelve years on from that debut in the Isle of Wight and she's eyeing up a place on the podium again. "We're going for medals but know it'll be tough," she tells me when asked about her hopes for Guernsey 2023. Straight to the point.

She'll be joined by 13 fellow Jersey archers in the second biggest archery squad at Port Soif, only behind hosts Guernsey in numbers. With both recurve and compound disciplines running, Hannah Bridle, Freddie Crosby, Dave Davies, Pete Gavey, Lloyd Glendewar, Summer Glendewar, Ian Hamon, Paula Hindley, Angela Perrett, Heath Perrett, Mollie Perrett, Francis Rocha and Tony Vardon will all make the short trip across.

As O'Sullivan packs her bags ahead of Friday's journey it'll be a familiar feeling, albeit for a endpoint rather different to Shanghai this time. It's the bow that needs packing not the microphone for this one.  

"World Archery have invited me to be the media woman for the World Cups this year," she says. "It's been great seeing all my international archery family, but it's made me want to be back on the Great Britain team even more.

"Doing the media has been another cool string to my bow. We'll see what happens in the future, media and shooting are both brilliant."