GLASGOW golfer Craig Chalmers is relishing the chance to join forces for a change as he targets a medal for Great Britain and Northern Ireland at next month's World University Games.
A golfer since the age of nine, Chalmers has been named as part of a 67-strong team who will head to Gwangju, South Korea, from July 3-14 for the latest edition of the biennial event.
The University of Strathclyde student does have some previous experience of pitting himself against the world's best student golfers having finished 29th out of 71 at the 2014 World University Golf Championships in Switzerland.
However, with over 12,000 student athletes from 170 nations set to compete in 21 sports in South Korea, it's safe to say this will be a step up.
Buoyed by the chance to compete as part of the team - Chalmers is part of a six-strong golfing contingent with three males and three females - the 20-year-old is adamant he can take it all in his stride.
"I played in the World University Golf Championship last year and that was a great experience, I was the top player in our British team," he said. "But this is going to be on a whole different scale. I'll try and use last year's experience to help me.
"I know the other guys on the team quite well. I feel like I'm playing quite well at the moment, I've had a few good results in recent competitions, so I don't see why we can't aim for a medal.
"Golf is largely an individual sport so to be a part of a multi-sport event is something very special. It should be really good to see how the other sports and athletes compete and see what they do in their preparations, sports.
"I know it will be a different sport to golf but it's a chance to gain an insight and whether there is anything I can implement into my own game."
A third-year computer science student at the University of Strathclyde, Chalmers has one more year to go before he completes his studies. And with many alumni of the World University Games going on to compete at Olympic level, the Scottish golfer is not ruling out one day starring on the professional circuit.
"With the Olympics, it's only open to professional golfers and not amateurs so for myself it will be quite a few years before I can even think about trying for the Games, but the aim is to one day turn professional so you never know," he added.
"The main focus for me next month is just trying to do well and soak up as much of the experience as possible. Maybe after a graduate I'll try and turn pro. Golf is not something that is easy by any means, but it's a challenge I enjoy."
British Universities & College Sport (BUCS) is the governing body for higher education sport in the UK, representing 170 institutions and facilitating 52 sport programmes. BUCS will be sending a delegation of Great Britain's next generation of elite athletes to the World University Games (Summer Universiade) being held in Gwangju Korea 4 - 14 July. For more information visit www.bucs.org.uk
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article