Enfield judoka Prisca Awiti-Alcaraz insists she is determined to leave her mark on her new rivals this year as she bids to follow in the footsteps of fellow Londoner Gemma Gibbons.

Awiti-Alcaraz was mesmerised as she watched on while Gibbons claimed -78kg silver at the London 2012 Olympics.

This spurred Awiti-Alcaraz on and at 19 she is now making the difficult step up to the under-21 category this season after shining as a junior – the Enfield Judo Club ace travelling to Turkey with Team GB for the 2011European Youth Olympic Festival.

So far progress has been slow but the Enfield College pupil is not about to throw in the towel as she aims to emulate her idol.

“I think in London 2012 Gemma Gibbons was a huge inspiration because she is from London and won a medal in front of a home crowd so that's pretty amazing and something to aspire tom” she said.

“People say judo isn’t popular in London but she shows you can be successful and be from here and she's won medals. I look up to her a lot and it's nice to have a London girl flying the flag for the sport.

“2014 was quite a hard season because it was my first year going up to under 21 and junior level and it was a big transition for me.

“The people ahead are a lot older than me so they kind of went everywhere and got selected whereas I only went to a few places.

“So I went from top kid where I got selected for everything to not being chosen so it was a bit disheartening but it made me want to work harder.

“I'm stronger this year, last year I didn't get selected for the first GB event but this year I have been so that shows the step up.”

Awiti-Alcaraz’s progress has seen her named as one of 100 athletes chosen for the SSE Next Generation programme.

The programme provides young athletes with financial help and mentoring from top names including Sir Chris Hoy, Sharon Davis and Judy Murray.

And for Awiti-Alcaraz it is the perfect way to boost her chances of success as she sets her sights on world domination in 2015.

“Hopefully this year with it being my second at under-21 level I will be a bit more prepared and that's something everyone goes through,” she added.

“I’m really happy to be selected for the SSE Next Generation scheme and I think it’s going to help a lot going forward.

“The Europeans are in September and then the World Championships are in October so it will be a busy period now and I’m setting my sights on those competitions.”

SSE’s Next Generation programme partners with SportsAid to provide financial support and training to the sports stars of the future. Keep up to date with the latest @SSENextGen