Software Engineering alumnus claims European Tenpin Bowling title

Richard, who is currently ranked 5th in the latest EBT men's player standings and in the world's top 100 players, only turned professional in tenpin bowling as recently as 2014 and will be looking to build on his recent success. His association with the sport goes back a long way, to when he was first introduced to bowling as a toddler, and his success, he says, was always going to happen given the influence of his parents.

"I got into bowling from a very young age I started when I was two years old when my mum and dad introduced me to it. They had bowled before I was born and in fact that was how they met so I was pretty much destined to bowl!"

During his days as a student at Bradford, Richard maintained his active involvement in the sport and went on to make his first appearance in the European tour in January 2013 prior to be becoming professional a year later. His hard work having been rewarded with his first taste of success on the tour in Germany.

"I did bowl whilst I studied at Bradford mainly in Leeds and Shipley due to the centres in these areas containing competitive leagues. I started the European bowling tour whilst I was working as an Engineer, in January 2013, and my main goal at first was to make a finals day. Qualifying starts midweek and the finals day is the Sunday where you start to win money. I made the finals day in my first tournament and went on to raise the bar and advance my goals to winning a European tournament. After two years on tour and a lot of practice I managed to win the Track Open earlier this year."

After graduating from Bradford with a 2:1 Richard landed his first job as a software engineer in London. The company he joined late downsized its operations which meant Richard left the firm in April 2014 but only for him to turn to professional tenpin bowling a month later. Ironically, software engineering now serves as Richard's main 'hobby', just as bowling did during his years as a student and engineer, a switch he is grateful to Bradford for enabling.

"I came professional in May 2014 after working for 3 years as a software engineer for a Heathrow based company. The company was struggling to maintain finances and my role maintaining their internal management system was not needed so I was made redundant in April 2014."

"Whilst I travel around the world from tournament to tournament I am currently in the process of developing an ecommerce website for my sponsor Porkys Pro Shop based in Maldon Essex. It will allow people to buy bowling products online quickly and efficiently. Without the help of Bradford and the amazing opportunity to learn from some of the greatest lecturers in the UK, I would not have been able to get my job based in Heathrow and continue to use that knowledge to help others and more importantly pass the time whilst travelling."

View or like Richard's sportsperson page on Facebook.