Sports role for former Daviot judo star Stephanie Inglis
A Commonwealth Games judo medallist who survived a horrific motorbike crash has returned to a sporting role.
Stephanie Inglis (30) was initially given only a one per cent chance of survival after the accident on the streets of Vietnam in 2016.
Teaching English to underprivileged children at the time, she was on a motorcycle taxi when her skirt got caught in the wheel, pulling her onto the road.
After six weeks in a coma, the former Millburn Academy pupil was able to make a remarkable recovery from head injuries, but was forced to retire from her sport.
More than 7500 people responded to an appeal set up by her friend, raising £330,000 to help pay for her treatment and return home.
Just three years on from those traumatic events, Ms Inglis has been recruited for a new job as active schools co-ordinator for Live Active Leisure in Perth and Kinross.
Now in charge of setting up and co-ordinating sports clubs for youngsters at schools across the region, she is delighted to be back involved in sport and education.
“I have always enjoyed working with kids and I’ve done a lot of judo presentations in schools, so this was a great opportunity for me,” she said.
“After the accident, I had a job at a car rental company at Edinburgh Airport but I never really enjoyed it. I just wanted to get back into sport, so when I heard about this job in Perth, it sounded ideal.”
Ms Inglis still has no recollection of the crash.
“It has been a crazy few years,” she said. “Sometimes I can’t believe it has been three years. It feels like a long time ago. I would say that I’m 100 per cent now, but doctors say differently. They tell me there’s always room for improvement.”
Ms Inglis won silver in the women’s 57kg judo event at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.
