Bethan Lewis will throw everything into beating Australia this weekend – including all the skills she learned at sports clubs across Carmarthenshire.
The Wales rugby player is currently in New Zealand, part of the squad that will take on the Aussies on Saturday in a bid to make the World Cup quarter-finals.
The 23-year-old has become an integral part of the Wales set-up, who is set to win her 32nd cap for her country on Saturday, but she firmly believes it was the variety of sports she experienced as a girl that gave her so many valuable life lessons.
That is why she encourages girls to try as many different activities as possible and was concerned to hear that fewer children are doing sport outside of their PE lessons compared to four years ago.
“It’s really disappointing to hear that the School Sport Survey is showing activity levels have dropped,” says Bethan, who plays for Gloucester, but hails from Abergwili in Carmarthenshire.
“I was really fortunate in that my parents drove me around to different places to do different sports. But maybe that option just isn’t there for lots of young people at the moment, so it’s important sport is made more accessible now.
“It’s all about opportunity.”
Bethan went to Nantgaredig Primary and then attended Ysgol Gyfun Gymraeg Bro Myrddin in Carmarthen.
She played a number of different sports and although rugby is now her profession as a contracted player with the Welsh Rugby Union, in her younger days, variety was the spice of her life.
“I played a lot of different sports growing up,” says the former Carmarthen Quins player, who even represented Great Britain at the world junior surf championships.
