Horsham's Sophie Martin returned to Australia on Tuesday after competing at the biggest event of her young tenpin bowling career.
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Martin competed at the inaugural World Junior Bowling Championships in Paris, and said the tournament was an eye-opening experience.
"It puts everything into perspective a little bit," she said.
"There were 35 different countries there - people from the USA, Russia, France and all around the world.
"I just got to see how much better everyone else is and the things that you can improve on."
Martin finished 10th in the singles at the tournament in an incredible effort. Even with her excellent finish, Martin said she was taken aback by how consistent some of the competitors were.
"The quality of bowling was a lot better and the competition was a lot better than I had seen," she said.
"They were just able to do the same shot over and over. The best people could just keep being really consistent."
In the masters section of the tournament, Martin made it through the first round before being knocked out by Grace Gella from the Philippines for a 19th placed finish. Martin said she knew where she needed to improve to compete with the best.
"I just need to improve my technique a little bit," Martin said. "Just to be able to do that same shot over and over."
Despite the terrific results, Martin said at this stage she wasn't sure if she wanted to continue with tenpin bowling beyond her junior career.
"I'm not really sure what I want to do from here... I'm not sure how far I want to go with my bowling to be honest," Martin said.
"I definitely will keep bowling juniors - in three weeks there is the Victorian Shield that I'll compete in. I'll just keep at it and see how I go."
Martin, 16, still has more than a year of junior bowling to come. But the World Junior Bowling Championships are held biannually, and Martin will be too old to compete at the 2021 edition.
Martin instead is eyeing off the 2020 World Youth Bowling Championships in Las Vegas.
One aspect Martin enjoyed most about the tournament was the chance to visit Europe for the first time. Martin and family stayed in France for an extra few days to enjoy sights.
"We got to look around Paris a little bit which was really cool, and we stayed in the country in a small town," she said. "It was really pretty."