Jan 09 - The accidental champion
Alex Gaunt, pupil at the Royal Alexandra and Albert School, has recently been crowned Surrey under 15s Champion in Indoor Bowls. Alex took up the sport only 15 months ago as part of the School’s extracurricular activities programme. “The activities coordinator Mr. Freddie introduced me to indoor bowls when I was 13”, Alex says. “I thought it was 10 pin bowling and signed up!” Despite this misunderstanding Alex found that he enjoyed the sport and quickly became an accomplished player.Competing with around 50 others at the championship in, Alex, who represented his local club Donyngs in Redhill, said he felt ‘ecstatic’ to have won. He is coached at Donyngs by Ann Brown and trains on Fridays and Saturdays.
The Headmaster said, ”The after-school activities programme that we introduced 15 months ago has been a big success. Most children participate in an activity after school every day from 4-5pm and this has opened up doors to many new sporting opportunities for pupils. For Alex to achieve success at county level so quickly is a tribute to his level of skill and ability to cope under pressure.”
Alex is already training for the next competition in March this year, where he will represent Surrey at the Regional Championship.
