FRANCESCA HALSALL collected her Young Sports Personality of the Year award from Olympic hero Stephen Parry - and admitted: "Awards like this make it all worthwhile."
The 15-year-old booked a place in the England Commonwealth Games team after a fantastic 2005 in which she took gold in the 100m freestyle at the European Junior Championships
and claimed top spot in the world rankings in the 50m and 100m freestyle.
And she told Junior Xsport: "2005 was a great year for me and this award means a lot.
"I've been getting up at 5am every morning to train and when you get recognition like this it makes it all worthwhile.
"I'm heading out to Brisbane later this month for a training camp before the Commonwealths.
"Australia have got some very talented swimmers and they are going to provide tough competition but I'm hoping to swim well.
"My aim is to make the final and then anything can happen.
"I just want to keep training hard and improving."
Coach Colin Stripe added: "At the Commonwealths Francesca will definitely swim in the 100m and the 4 x 100m relay and we are hoping she will be allowed to swim in the 50m too."
