<p>A teenager who trained on a homemade climbing wall in her back garden during lockdown could be on her way to the Olympics after becoming the youngest in the Team GB squad. </p><p>Erin McNeice, 17, could be heading to the 2024 Paris Olympics after joining the UK's climbing squad.</p><p>The young athlete began climbing at the age of five, following in her dad's footsteps after he developed a passion for the sport at University.</p><p>Mrs McNeice, who is only months away from sitting her A-levels, specialises in bouldering and rock climbing. </p><p>She said: "I got into it when my dad brought me to a climbing gym, I was very small and very light, so I could impress people, I liked it because I got attention.</p><p>"Being chosen for Team GB is still surreal, even though I work so hard for it, it doesn't feel real.</p><p>"But it's something that I've worked for over the past five or six years, and dreamed about pretty much every day so I'm very happy."</p><p>The young athlete came second at the National Competition in 2018 and has been climbing up the ranks ever since.</p><p>Following trials in Sheffield earlier this year, Erin received an email from Tom Greenall, head coach at GB Climbing, offering her a place on the team.</p><p>She said: "I actually dropped my phone on the floor with excitement.</p><p>"I rang mum straight away but couldn’t understand what she was saying as she wasn’t particularly coherent amongst the screams of joy.”</p><p>The year 13 student has a slightly downsized climbing wall at the bottom of her garden where she perfected her moves during lockdown.</p><p>She said: "It is about 6ft 5in in height. </p><p>"We built it before lockdown but we made it a lot bigger during the pandemic so I trained on that most days."</p><p>In preparation for the 2024 games in Paris, Ms McNeice will have to dedicate all of her spare time to training.</p><p>She could also find herself travelling to a different country every couple of weeks for competitions.</p><p>Already, there is a high chance she will be attending the Youth World Championships in Texas this year.</p><p>Ms McNeice, from Sittingbourne in Kent said: "I'm in my final year of A levels and train six days a week, on the wall and in the gym with one day a week active recovery.</p>
