TEENAGE prodigy Geva Mentor will represent England at the Commonwealth Games this summer less than four years after taking up the sport.

Mentor is named in the 12-woman England squad who will be looking to better the bronze medal they won in Kuala Lumpur in 1998 when the Games open in Manchester on July 25.

The 17-year-old St Peter's School pupil made history when she became the youngest player in living memory to make her England debut, lining up against New Zealand last July aged just 16 years and 10 months.

But the precocious teenager has actually been on the international scene since November 2000, being called into the national squad ahead of England's three-test series against Australia last spring.

Mentor has spent the past five months combining training with England coach Lyn Gunson and studying for her AS Level exams at Bath University's Centre of Excellence.

Although still a full-time student at St Peter's, the Boscombe girl has been training in Bath from Monday to Friday while remaining in contact with her teachers via email.

Geva's mother Yvonne believes her daughter's success would not have been possible without the full co-operation of the school.

She said: "Although Geva has been involved with England for 18 months, her selection for the Games was not a foregone conclusion.

"She decided at Christmas she needed to commit herself to netball for the six months leading up to the Games if she was going to make sure she was selected.

"And she's been proved right because even as recently as two weekends ago, two new faces were added to the squad.

"Geva's selection was not done and dusted and she knew she had to put in all the hard work to do it and the school have bent over backwards to help her fulfil her potential.

"Last autumn she was doing a lot of training at school and one of her teachers, Patrick Lucas, was helping her carry out a training programme the All England Netball Association had put together for her. He was doing ball skills with her at lunchtime and training after school.

"But Geva knew she really needed to be at Bath. "It was arranged she would spend five days in Bath, training three times a day, and then be in school by about 11am on Fridays so she could hand in the coursework she had done during the week.

"Some teachers also stayed after school with her and were in contact by email.

"I cannot praise St Peter's highly enough because they have worked on what is best for Geva and her success shows what can be achieved with the help of the school."

Mentor is currently in Australia where the England team are preparing for the Commonwealth Games with an intensive seven-match 10-day tour.

Ranked third behind reigning champions Australia and New Zealand going into the tournament, England begin their Games campaign on July 26 when they face Canada in Pool B.

Gunson's side then take on Sri Lanka and Wales on July 27 and 28 before going head-to-head with the much-fancied New Zealand Silver Ferns on July 29.