This week Bill Carne met up with 16 year old Tyler Worrall to have a chat with him about his rapid rise to prominence in teenage powerlifting, where he is already a world champion in his age and weight group...

AT 16 years of age Tyler Worrall is already hugely regarded in the world of powerlifting and the youngster from Pembroke Dock can already lay claim to being a Welsh No 1 in his age and weight category, as well as becoming a World Champion.

He recently won his class in the UK qualifier at his own territory, the Pembrokeshire Powerlifting Club and his next event will be those UK Finals which will take place at the 'Body Power' event at the NEC in Birmingham.

Tyler had three attempts in each of the three lifts in Pembroke Dock and with his final total also significant as he broke 10 records out of a possible 12 on the day, starting with three record lifts of 75kgs, 85kgs and 100kgs in the squat.

In the bench press he managed 40kgs, just failed on 45kgs and then succeeded with 50kgs - - and then had initial success in the dead lift on 120 and 132kgs but just missed out on 150kgs because the bar caught in his shorts and that was that - a mistake he will definitely learn from!

Appropriately, Tyler is the nephew of top lifter Aaron Hosking; who encouraged Tyler to enrol at the club almost three years ago.

"He took to it like a duck to water," Aaron told us,” with the full support of his parents, Kim Merrett and George Worrall, who are a great help to him. He is dead keen to compete and I've just completed his hotel booking for him.

"Almost as soon as he started I could see he had real potential and was eager to practise the three lifts of Bench Press, Dead Lift and Squat - and he now trains even harder than he used to before he went back to football for a short while because he was missing his mates during all the times he knew he had to train if he was to achieve his full potential."

Tyler's interest in powerlifting came after he had played football at Bush Camp from the time he was six and was making his mark as a useful player with Pennar Robins Juniors, before he also joined Kilgetty for a short while because he felt he needed a new challenge.

He also played for a good Tenby squad at under 16 level and played midfield as they came third in the table and in the age group final just missed out on a winners' medal with Adam Brown as coach.

Apart from that campaign Tyler has usually played up front and in one productive season in Kilgetty he grabbed 31 goals under the guidance of Lukas Gamble, scoring five goals in one match against Hundleton.

Then it was on to senior football and he plays when he can for Pennar Robins Seconds in the third division of the Manderwood Pembrokeshire Football League.

"At the moment we are second in the table and we have good coaches in Jamie Price and Mikey Powell and I play on the wing alongside good friends like Ryan Gammer, Charlie 'O Sullivan, Harry Turner and Cameron Brunton and one day I hope to make it into the first team squad coached by Chrissie Lloyd."

But going back to his powerlifting, Tyler can still recall his start with Uncle Aaron at their new training facility in Pembroke Dock.

"It looked tough but learning the basics was even harder than I thought," admitted Tyler, "especially the bench press because it puts a lot of strain on your shoulders.

"But everyone in the gym was so supportive that it was easy to settle in and soon I was keen to compete as I built up my personal bests quite quickly.

"At first I was doing 60kgs (dead lift), 25kgs (bench press) and 40kgs (squat) for a combined total of 125kgs - but since then I have improved those to 150kgs (dead lift), 50kgs (bench press) and 100kgs (squat) so that I have improved my PB to a combined total of 300kgs, or 35 stone.

"I must admit that I was very nervous as I stood under the spotlight in my first competition, at a British Qualifier in Swansea, what with the judges being so close as they looked at whether your lifts were good or not, and with the crowd making a terrific amount of noise.

"But as Aaron told me,

"Focus on a particular spot and forget about the crowd noise," and it really worked for me then and now."

"I was only entered for the Dead Lift and I won with a PB of 131kgs, which qualified me for the World Championships in Aldershot - and I trained really hard for such a special day - and it paid dividends because I added another 4kgs and won my class, which was amazing!"

But then the total commitment and the need to train with his footballing pals caused him to take a break until Aaron held another competition; Tyler offered to help and was soon involved again as he realised just how much he had missed it!

"Aaron didn't force me but just left it to me and once I had started training again I couldn't wait to push myself - and it's been worth it!"

Tyler began again in January and he is already looking forward to his Birmingham trip because it will certainly widen his experience of competition as he will also be able to watch other competitors like body builders, weight lifters, and strong men - and hopefully chat to them about their training routines.

"It's only seven weeks away," said Tyler, but I have a good training programme drawn up and I'm working hard in the gym almost every evening. I was the youngest powerlifter in the teenage 15-19 category in our home show the other week and I expect it will be the same in Birmingham, but that doesn't worry me in the slightest.

"I'm aiming to achieve another personal best if all goes well and I'm getting great help from Aaron, Paul and Andrew Murphy, Callum Lowe and the rest of the lifters at the club, who really look after me.”

The older members respond by saying that they recognise his talent and want to see him win more titles and break more records. We can only agree with them and we wish Tyler Worrall great future success with a very special club indeed!