British Isles Championships- Gents U18 Singles Preview
Next week sees our Scottish champions compete across 14 different disciplines to test their might against their fellow national championship winners in the 2024 British Isles Championships. We have been speaking with all the players and teams prior to the event, to get some insight into their feelings ahead of such an occasion, as well as looking at their journey to Leamington Spa. We also sought some insight on the bowlers, by asking them to pick between one of TVs most divisive duos.
We had a great chat with our Under 18s singles representative, reigning Scottish champion 18-year-old Aaron Miller, who plays out of Inverkeithing Bowling Club, in Fife.
Similar to the Harris sisters pinning their early success on their grandfather, Aaron said that it was his dad Steven, who introduced him to the game of bowls, taking him to open tournaments, from around the age of 8. This is where Aaron’s love for the game started and blossomed.
Aaron then got the chance to talk about his success at last year’s National Championships, which in turn has afforded him this opportunity to represent Scotland in the Under 18s Singles. Aaron gave credit to all of his opponents, saying there were no easy games, they were all tough, and on tough greens too. He went on to say:
“I just kept my head down, and got on with the tricky conditions at Northfield, and managed to come away with the victory which I was absolutely delighted about.”
Aaron then talked me through his thoughts and feelings ahead of the British Isles Championships next week. He told me he was ecstatic to be representing his country once again, and that he was really looking forward to the event. He was also excited to pull the Scotland jersey on again, due to the sense of pride that it brings the young Fifer.
Due to his fantastic array of achievements at such a young age, I wanted to ask Aaron about what the next steps would be, and what his biggest aspirations are in the sport of bowls. The youngster aimed high, and rightly so, saying that his biggest aspiration is to one day become a world champion. On top of that, he expressed hope that one day he would be able to represent Scotland at the Commonwealth Games and bring home a gold medal from the event.
When asked for his favourite ever bowler, Aaron did not skip a beat, before answering that it was in fact his father Steven. He said that he has grown up watching and playing with him, so to see him win so many different titles has been incredible. One of his highlights of playing alongside his father was when he lifted a bronze medal in the gents’ pairs at the 2023 Scottish Championships.
Aaron was also the first person who we asked a fabled question to. Any answer to this gives a deep insight to a person, that question is of course ‘Ant or Dec?’
Aaron answered simply: ‘Dec’.
Aaron has slightly longer to wait before he can get stuck into the action in Leamington Spa next week, not playing until the first session of Day 2 (Thursday 27th June, 09:30) before he faces Ireland’s Josh Thompson in the semi-finals of the U18 singles.