Dana Abdulkarim, 25
Sheffield High School for Girls Sportswoman
Dana Abdulkarim is the first muslim woman to play international rounders. A canny tactician and talented deep fielder, the star of the formidable England Senior Rounders team and coach to the Under-18 squad bounds around the pitch – fully covered and wearing a white headscarf. Her talents have earned her an unlikely nickname, the “Steven Gerrard of Rounders”, as she bats, fields and catches balls rocketing through the air at up to 60 miles an hour. Dana, who also teaches PE at Dinnington Comprehensive
School in Sheffield, where she has encouraged hundreds of her pupils to take up rounders too, was first spotted by national selectors when she was just 13 during a match at Sheffield High. “I was lucky to be at a school that encouraged the sport at a high level,” she said. “I’ve played county-level football, netball, hockey and athletics, but Rounders England has certainly been the most understanding when it comes to cultural and religious sensitivities.”
Elly Green, 25
King’s School, Taunton Hospitality manager
Elly Green relishes a challenge. Te Sandhurst-trained, former RHA (Royal Horse Artillery) subaltern recently left London’s bright lights with new husband Dickon, an Old Rugbeian, to run the family’s magnificent fishing lodge on the remote west coast of Lewis in the Outer Hebrides. Uig Lodge, once owned by Lord Leverhulme, overlooks the salmon and trout-filled River Fhorsa beneath Loch Suaineabhal and Elly hosts fly-fishing parties, offers B&B and helps run the picturesque salmon smokery beside the Lodge. Te salmon, hand- prepared and oak-smoked, recently won three Gold Stars in the Guild of Fine Foods’ “Great Taste” awards, as the top Scottish smoked salmon. “It’s been an incredible learning curve,” admits Elly,
who developed her love of the outdoors during school expeditions. “I’ve caught my first salmon, started refurbishing our cottage, learned to cook local lobster and deep fry ice-cream!”
Sam Waley-Cohen, 29
St Edward’s School, Oxford Amateur jockey and businessman
Sam Waley-Cohen hit the headlines this year, winning the prestigious King George VI Chase in January before becoming the first amateur jockey in 30 years to take the Cheltenham Gold Cup, on his horse Long Run. He then finished a narrow second in the Grand National on Oscar Time. Amazingly, racing horses is just a part-time passion for Waley-Cohen, who is even credited with playing Cupid to reunite his friends, Prince William and Kate Middleton, after their split in 2007. Waley- Cohen’s “day job” is running a chain of dental practices. He admits that St Edward’s disciplined environment gave him the best possible start to his extraordinary sporting career as an accomplished mountaineer, skier, and pilot. Although Waley-Cohen believes much of his determination, time-management skills and “can-do” attitude was inspired by the courage of his younger brother, Tomas, who died from bone cancer, aged 20.
www.firstelevenmagazine.co.uk Autumn 2011 FirstEleven 79
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