Amy Stainsbury with ball

Amy Stainsbury wonders what might have been once more as forced to settle with silver once more

Barking & Dagenham netballer Amy Stainsbury admitted she was left wondering what could have been after she narrowly missed out on gold once again at the Balfour Beatty London Youth Games finals weekend.

The 13-year-old took to the Crystal Palace National Sports Centre for Europe’s largest annual youth sports event looking to help Barking & Dagenham finish as high as they could in the overall Jubilee Trophy standings.

And although the Jubilee Trophy fell into the hands of Croydon this time around, Stainsbury certainly played her part as Barking & Dagenham finished 27th overall, captaining the girls’ netball team to silver.

Barking Abbey School pupil Stainsbury and co fell at the last hurdle in Crystal Palace, losing to Havering in the final in a carbon copy of last year’s showpiece.

This was Stainsbury’s final London Youth Games as she will be too old to compete in 2013, and after winning three silver medals in three years, she couldn’t help but wish she could look on her collection and see gold as well.

“The final was quite a tight game and we only just lost which means we ended up with the silver,” she said.

“It was a tense final and we were doing our best to win because we lost to Havering in the final last year and wanted to beat them this time around.

“But it just wasn’t to be and we ended up with another silver, a colour I am very familiar with having been at the finals weekend for three years and always finishing second.

“I am pleased to have got to the final every time and I am proud of my medals, but I do wish I had won the gold at least once.

“This was my last year of competing and it would have been nice to have ended on a real high with a gold, but I have still really enjoyed my time at the London Youth Games.”

Despite having picked up silver medals in the boccia and kayak sprint ahead of the finals weekend, Stainsbury and co’s second-place finish was the sole visit Barking & Dagenham made to the podium in Crystal Palace.

Cheer

However, there was plenty to cheer about for the borough as they jumped six places in the girls’ volleyball, going from 11th in 2011 to fifth this year.

The boys’ and girls’ table tennis teams also saw marked improvements as they finished eighth and seventh respectively.

Balfour Beatty have agreed to support the London Youth Games through to at least 2015, meaning £1.1m worth of funding post-2012 and a total contribution of £2.5m since 2007.