A young basketball player who plays for Ipswich has represented England at an overseas tournament.

DeAnna Carrington, 15, who plays for the Ipswich girls U16 Basketball team, was called up to represent England Girls U15s at a tournament in Spain, which took place between April 13 and April 16.

DeAnna, from Colchester, represented her country at the 18th Alaior City Basketball Tournament, in which 62 teams compete, held on the island of Menorca.

This was the first time DeAnna had been called up to the England squad. She said: “I couldn’t believe it at first, it really caught me off guard.

“I am very happy, however, it is a massive honour to play for England and to come out here (to Spain) to represent my country.”

DeAnna’s mum, Davinia said: “It’s absolutely unreal, we are really proud of her.

“She has put in a lot of hard work to be here, but it has come so soon, we weren’t expecting anything like this at this point in her life.

"We thought it would come much later in her life if it was to come so the whole family are really proud of her. A lot of her family have flown over to Spain to support her."

DeAnna, who turned 15 the weekend before the competition, started playing basketball when she was 10, after formerly being a cheerleader and competing in competitions.

Davinia said: “One of my friends suggested we take her to basketball sessions and see how she gets on.

“After one training session the coaches said she had natural talent, so they took her back to basics as she had never touched a basketball before then, and worked with her.”

Kevin Manning, Ipswich girls U16 Basketball head coach, said: “She's a phenomenal athlete, with no identifiable ceiling to the level her abilities could take her within the sport.

“Maybe more important than that, she's just a fantastic young lady and she has been an absolute dream to coach this year.”

England U15 Girls played a minimum of five games over the three-day tournament.

The team finished fifth in the tournament, with DeAnna leading the England scoring to win 46-35 over Cornella.