Sam Tolchard's family are a group of high achievers in sport, but he lays claim to be the best of them having been selected for a fifth Commonwealth Games.
The bowls player is the nephew of former England Test cricketer Roger Tolchard, with another relative excelling at football.
In his own line of the family tree, sister Sophie is a Commonwealth Games gold medallist in bowls, with the pair having been introduced to the sport by their father, Ray.
“My family's really sporty," the Torquay native said. "My uncle played cricket for England, he played a few Tests.
"My other uncle played county cricket for Leicestershire, another one played professional football, and my cousin actually played cricket for New Zealand.
“When I was younger, I just was always doing some form of sport. Dad played a lot of cricket, and when he finished playing cricket, he went and played bowls because actually his parents have played bowls for England as well.
“When I was five or six, I used to follow him around and watch him and ended up having a go and that was it.”
The 36-year-old made his Games debut in New Delhi back in 2010, going on to win his first Commonwealth medal in Glasgow four years later with pairs bronze.
Another bronze followed on the Gold Coast in 2018, before a first silver came in Birmingham in 2022, as he took his overall tally to four medals.
The Games returns to Glasgow 12 years on from its last visit, but there is still something new with bowls heading indoors for the first time in Commonwealth history.
Tolchard said: “It is without a doubt the pinnacle of our sport. It means everything. “I've been pretty lucky to play in the last four Commonwealth Games. This will be my fifth. I’m really excited to play in this one, especially it's going to be totally different indoors. We've only ever played outdoors.
"We are lucky that we play a full indoor season from October to April time, so the greens are going to be very similar to what we're used to. “Hopefully, that will be a big help to us.”
Tolchard claimed pairs silver in Birmingham 2022 with teammate Jamie Walker, who is also returning to the Team England squad.
The Torquay man will arrive in Scotland in strong form, winning the Bowls World Cup in Malaysia in November last year, but is rather relaxed at the prospect of claiming a coveted gold medal having missed out on one by a single point in 2022.
He said: “I think we've had a real good run of seasons nationally on the indoor circuit. “I felt like we've been in pretty good form the last couple of years and we will just hopefully keep that upwards trajectory going. “At the end of the day, it's just another tournament. The goal will be to win as many games as possible and see where we end up."
