A TALENTED young sportsman from Trowbridge is hoping to make a splash on the national stage in at least one of his two chosen sports.

Alex Bedford, a student at Clarendon College, has achieved remarkable success this year in diving and trampolining.

Bedford is the reigning south west age group diving champion on the one-metre board and the current south west schools' under 17s trampolining champion.

The 16-year-old underlined his enormous potential in the pool with five gold medals at the Wilts County ASA diving championships and age group competition on Saturday This weekend he travels to Sweden for an international club trampolining competition,where he hopes to improve on the silver medal he won in the youth boys' section last year.

Whether he's reaching for the heavens on the trampoline or hurtling towards the water in the tuck position, Bedford says he's hooked on the adrenaline rush.

"I guess it's the thrill factor that attracted me to both sports. I love that feeling you get in your stomach before the start of a routine or a difficult dive.

"The two sports are similar in many ways and very different in others.

"The trampolining helps my diving because I can take moves from my routines and use them on the diving board.

"But where a dive is over in a couple of seconds, the trampoline routine goes on much longer.

"You have to keep your focus and try to perfect each move or you will be marked down. In the pool you only get one chance to get it right, so that's also very tough."

Bedford is a member of the West Wilts Diving Club, based at the Trowbridge Swimming Pool, and the Evolution Trampoline Club, which holds sessions in Radstock and Frome. Earlier this summer, Bedford and Evolution team-mate Fiona Easton both qualified for the national trampolining finals in Birmingham.

He practises his routines three nights a week after college and has already made the step up to grade one, the highest level of national competition.

"I'm hoping to break into the top ten in the country by July next year," he said.

"I've been trampolining since I was seven years old and I want to see how far I can go with it."

That doesn't mean Bedford is about to wave goodbye to the diving board - far from it.

The teenager is hoping to make his mark in the national age group championships, where he can test his skills against the best in the country.

But Bedford says the lack of facilities for divers in Wiltshire could hinder his progress in the sport.

He said: "At the moment I only get about two hours of practice in the pool at Trowbridge each week.

"The coaches do their best to help us but the facilities are poor. In other counties they have pools with lots of different boards but we don't have that here."

Bedford hopes to enhance his reputation in his two favourite sports and is dedicated to improving his all-round performance.

But the level-headed youngster realises he may be forced to sacrifice one of his talents to concentrate on the other.

"I don't prefer either sport, but if I had to choose it would be trampolining - that's because I am competing at a higher level.

"I want to do both for as long as I can, but it's difficult if the competitions are on the same day.

"Hopefully I won't have to make the choice and can continue competing in both diving and trampolining," he said.