Sara Xuereb is fast becoming a household name in local bowling. Mark Strijbosch spoke to the young player who is widely regarded as one of the country’s brightest sporting talents.

Sara Xuereb... academic and sporting endeavours at National Sports School.

With exams around the corner, Sara Xuereb must remain sharp, keeping high marks in her school tests as well as on the bowling charts.

Besides her daily training sessions, Xuereb also takes time to study her sport as much as she can.

“My daily schedule can get quite tight with study, training and competitions,” Xuereb said.

“It is very important for me to plan my day very well. Certain competitions, like the Malta Open, fall during the exams so I need to prepare my study schedule very well.

“In the end I feel that a good combination of sports and school can bring out the best of a person in both spheres.”

The Malta Open took place over the weekend where Xuereb “gained more experience as there were a lot of foreign bowlers.”

The competition may have been strong but Xuereb still emerged as the top Under-18 female bowler, playing an average of 197 over 12 games.

While praising her father’s influence, Xuereb also credits the Malta Tenpin Bowling Association (MTBA) for her improvement.

“The MTBA youth co-ordinator, Liliana Spiteri, and national youth coach, Mark Spiteri, had invited me to join the national youth squad,” Xuereb reflected.

“From then on, I never looked back, always doing my best to im-prove my level of play.”

Individual attention

Xuereb’s talent was spotted and she was selected to be part of the National Sports School.

“I feel very lucky that I was one of the first 40 students who were chosen to attend the first year of the National Sports School,” she said.

“Being a student at the National Sports School definitely helped me to improve both my academic and bowling standards.”

At school, bowling was part of the curriculum, together with personalised training sessions by the national team coach.

Xuereb loves the individual attention and the school “feels like a big family”.

“The blend between academic subjects and sports proved to be very beneficial for me during the three years I spent at the National Sports School,” Xuereb said.

“My aim is to continuously improve my game and participate in competitions abroad in order to obtain more experience.”

In her career so far, Xuereb has already won the young female athlete of the year at the L-Għażliet Sportivi Nazzjonali-Sport Malta Awards, held last January.

“I was extremely happy, proud and grateful that the journalists acknowledged the success I achieved during 2014, where I placed third in the Under-15 female British Junior Open and fifth out of 152 entries at the London Junior International,” Xuereb said.

“I also won the national Under-16 and Under-23 titles.”

The challenge for her does not end there.

“My dream is to become national bowling champion and successfully represent Malta in competitions abroad such as the Mediterranean Challenge Cup,” Xuereb added.

“I would also love to do well in the European Championship and the World Cup. Hopefully in 10 years’ time, bowling will also be included in the list of Olympic sport as I wish to represent Malta in the Olympic Games.”

Xuereb wants to become the no.1 player in Malta but despite her ambition, she views the evergreen Sue Abela as a role model rather than an opponent.

“Sue Abela’s dedication is in-credible. No wonder she has won so much, both locally and internationally,” Xuereb said.

“I feel privileged to have the opportunity to practise which such a great champion.”

Just as she looks up to Abela, in the near future others will look up to Xuereb who advises young tenpin bowlers “follow your dream and never give up”.