WHEN it comes to commitment, 2022 Commonwealth Games hopeful Macey Jones cannot be faulted.

A second year BTEC Sports student at Coleg Gwent’s Usk Campus, her triple jump training includes at least five sessions a week when she has a competition – and at the weekend too when she doesn’t.

It’s this drive to go all the way in her chosen sport that helps Jones, 17, from Pontypool, juggle her sporting commitments with her academic studies.

Although she’s the first to admit that the normal social life of a teenager generally eludes her.

“I have amazing support from my family,” she said. “They help fund me and drive me to Cardiff three times a week to train.

“And I have supportive friends too, who understand I can’t go out with them because my training has to come first, but other friendships have suffered because of my dedication to my dream of going all the way in sport.”

As well as aiming for top triple jump honours – she represents her country in next weekend’s Wales v England U20 event in Cardiff – the teenager is also a hard-working student.

She has plans to go on and study for a SCRAM – Sports Conditioning, Rehabilitation and Massage – degree at Cardiff Metropolitan University at the end of her BTEC course at Usk.

“I already train at Cardiff Met – that’s where my coach Nigel Lewis is based – so I will be able to work for my degree alongside my sporting activities,” she added.

“I’m aiming for the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham and I’m on course.

“I improved my personal best from 11.10m to 11.90m last year, so making the estimated standard of 13.50m is definitely achievable.

“I am really, really motivated and my head is in the right place, so I know that my hard work will pay off.”

Her current training regime alternates between weights with coach Justin Holly, usually between 6am and 7.30am, ahead of college and at the National Indoor Athletics Centre with Lewis from 6pm to 8pm.

Jones started her athletics career doing long jump but moved on to triple jump because she found it more fun.

She prefers outdoor meets, finding indoor ones more claustrophobic, but speaks warmly of the camaraderie of the athletes, who, despite competing against each other, are also very supportive of one another.

She won the Under-20s Welsh Championship in Cardiff and then took part in her first national indoor championships, representing Cwmbran Harriers, in Sheffield.

“I was a bit disappointed with my sixth place – but it was an amazing experience,” she said.

As well as support from her family, friends and Coleg Gwent, she received financial support from the Mic Morris Memorial Sporting Trust set-up in memory of a police officer and brilliant British international middle-distance runner from Pontypool, who died aged just 24 during a training run in 1983.

Gareth Betts, lecturer at the School of Wellbeing on the Pontypool and Usk campus, paid tribute to Jones’ commitment, both to her sport and her studies.

“The course Macey is doing is one of the best ways to prepare for a life working in the sports industry,” he said.

“It gives students a great grounding in many areas of sport including coaching, personal training, sports massage, anatomy and physiology.

“We are all very proud of Macey and impressed at her dedication, and wish her well for next weekend’s competition.”

For more information about sports courses at Coleg Gwent, visit coleggwent.ac.uk