Alex wins Senior Sports Man prize at Conwy Sports Awards

Former Coleg Llandrillo student Alex Marshall-Wilson was named Senior Sports Man of the Year at the Conwy Sports Awards.

Alex, from Deganwy, was recognised after a whirlwind year in which he helped Great Britain win the European under-23 wheelchair basketball championships.

He also played for Sheffield Steelers in the Euro Cup finals, received contract offers from professional clubs in Europe, helped GB athletes prepare for the Paralympics, and won gold in an international tournament in Japan.

Alex, who studied Level 3 Sport at Coleg Llandrillo’s Rhos-on-Sea campus, said he was “honoured” to win the senior prize at the Conwy Sports Awards.

He has attended the event several times before, having won the junior award in 2019 and been nominated for the senior prize two years ago.

But this time it was his parents who were presented with the award, as Alex was playing for Steelers in a British Wheelchair Basketball Premier League match against Nottinghamshire side Jaguars.

“It’s an incredibly proud moment,” he said. “It’s always an enjoyable event, and I’m very honoured to have won the award, especially as there are people in Conwy who have achieved so much in the past year.”

A successful 12 months for Alex started last November, when he was called up to the Great Britain squad for the Kitakyushu Champions Cup in Japan. In his first step up from junior level, Alex was a key player as GB won all their games to claim the gold medal.

In February, he played for Steelers in the Euro Cup group stage in Germany, helping his club qualify for the finals in Spain two months later.

This was an impressive achievement in itself, as the competition featured professional teams from across Europe, whereas wheelchair basketball is an amateur sport in the UK.

But playing in the tournament finals also proved a huge opportunity for Alex, as he subsequently received contract offers to play professionally.

“The Euro Cup gives you more opportunity to be seen because you’re competing against top professional clubs at a very high level,” he said.

“My goal after my degree is to play abroad professionally, and I’ve had quite a few contract offers from clubs in Spain, Italy and Germany.

“They were all really understanding of the fact that I want to finish my degree first, so hopefully that’s something I can go back to once I’ve graduated.”

In June, Alex played every game as Britain won the U23 European Championship with a 100% record - qualifying for next year’s World U23 Championship in Sao Paolo, Brazil.

He said: “That’s the next big thing for us as a team, to try and win that gold in Sao Paolo, now that we know what some of the teams we’ll be up against are like.”

Alex is ultimately targeting the 2028 Paralympics in Los Angeles, and has already made his first steps into the senior set-up after he was drafted in to help the team prepare for this year’s Games.

“The 2028 Paralympics is one of my long-term goals,” he said. “I’ve started to be integrated within the senior GB pathway a little bit - I had opportunities in the summer to play against GB senior men and women before they went to Paris.

“It gives the coaches the chance to have a look at the next generation of players coming up to the senior age group.

“The target of LA is definitely still on the cards, so I’ve got to keep pushing as much as possible.”

Alex was at Coleg Llandrillo from 2020 to 2022, and in his final year was named Overall Winner at the college’s FE Achiever of the Year Awards. Earlier this year, he returned to the Rhos campus with Ffit Conwy disability sport officer Mark Richards to lead a wheelchair basketball session for sport students.

Amy Thomson, Programme Area Manager for Sports and Public Services at Coleg Llandrillo, said: “I am incredibly proud of Alex and everything he has achieved since his time at Coleg Llandrillo. His dedication, determination, and passion for wheelchair basketball have been truly inspiring.

“It’s been a privilege to watch him grow both as an athlete and a person. Winning Senior Sportsman of the Year at the Conwy Sports Awards is a testament to his hard work, and I have no doubt this is just the beginning of many more successes for him.

“His achievements serve as a great example to all our students about what can be accomplished with commitment and perseverance."

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