England ten pin call is a dream come true for Tom

Tom is pictured with Martin Larsen, a professional ten pin bowler from Sweden

Redman, who turns 18 this Thursday, has been named as one of the eight-player team, four boys and four girls, for Team England for the European Youth Championships in Riga, Latvia, next April.

It is the culmination of 11 years of hard work and dedication and he smiled: “It feels incredible – it is a dream come true. It’s something I have always wanted to do since I was a kid.”

Currently studying for A levels at the Outwood Academy in Newbold, Tim has already been called up for England development squads but this is his first actual call-up.

“We have a lot of training camps to go to with Team England,” he said.

“We are off to Birmingham this weekend, then Manchester, London and we are off to Denmark in March for a training competition before the biggie in Latvia.

Tom recalled how it all began, saying: “I started when I was about seven.

“I used to go and watch my dad play and got into it myself. We only live in Birdholme, two minutes walk from the bowling alley.

“I took a liking to it and became really dedicated to it, playing five times a week.

“I started doing a lot of tournaments all over the country and gradually got better and better. Many of them are in London but I have been everywhere from Liverpool to Torquay and I have won over 20 titles now.

“I won the Derbyshire Trials in 2016 and 2017 and I captained Derbyshire in 2016 to their first ever county medal.

“In 2016 I also won the National U18s Singles Division down in Dunstable which was the biggest one I’d won and the first time my name got out there and it all started to get real.

“I used to get very worked up if my parents didn’t allow me to go bowling. “But I have to thanks them for all their efforts down the years as well as my coaches. I can’t thank them all enough. All their effort with me has now paid off.”