Having achieved her best international result yet, Seren Wills is scaling dizzy heights in her competitive climbing career.
The sixteen-year-old, from Saltash, has just finished fifteenth at the European Lead Cup in Toulouse and now, with a top 30 under 17s ranking in Europe, is Team GB’s second highest ranked climber in that age category.
Seren trains at Boulder Exe and the Quay Climbing Centre in Exeter three times a week and Plymouth Hanger once a week. She also does regular strength and conditioning training at Saltash Leisure Centre where she enjoys free membership as a GLL Sport Foundation (GSF) athlete.
Currently studying Uniform Protective Services at Callywith College in Bodmin, where she is a member of the college’s High Performance Academy, Seren has loved climbing since she was two years old and has set her sights firmly on becoming both Olympic and world champion.
“This is a great way to end what has been a challenging season, having had to balance GCSEs, moving from school to further education, and being selected for both GB Lead Climbing and GB Bouldering teams,” said Seren. “I am excited about next year and looking forward to getting a solid winter training phase in.”
Operating under the Better brand, GLL is the not-for-profit social enterprise that runs 240 leisure centres in the UK – including nine in Cornwall. As a GSF athlete, Seren has free access to all.
“I’m very grateful to GLL’s sport foundation for their continued support,” she said. “It means I can go to Saltash Leisure Centre and any other Better leisure centre or sport facility in the country free of charge and that makes a big difference to my training.”
144 Cornwall-based athletes, representing 23 sports, received GSF support worth £92,150 in 2025. 72% of them get no other central funding, more than half are under the age of 21, 27% are under 16 and 8% of them live with disabilities.
Applications for 2026 GSF awards open on 20 December. For more information, visit https://www.gllsportfoundation.org/
