A 14-YEAR-OLD boy from Bournemouth has won the first-ever national Rotary Young Citizen Sporting Hero Award.

Will Sears has challenged the status quo and taken part in sailing championships across the world despite his disability, competing in the same class as athletes without his medical condition.

Will, who has been a keen sailor since the age of 10 but last April, suffered a haemorrhagic stroke whilst on holiday with his family in France.

He was diagnosed with Cavernous Malformations in his brain, two of which had haemorrhaged and as a result, now has epilepsy. A year later, he has got back on the water and continued competing in international competitions.

Determined not to let his disability define him, he was resolute in taking his place at both the RS Tera National Championships in Essex and World Championships in Sweden.

Will’s mother Cherie said: “No easy task! There is no sailing for young people with epilepsy or brain injuries generally and there certainly isn’t competitive sailing.

“Will first had to convince the National Sailing Committee he was able and safe before tackling the world organisation.”

With the help of his Roald Dahl Specialist Epilepsy Nurse and his sailing club, the National Committee agreed to allow him to compete under strict conditions. There wasn’t, and still isn't, any dispensation for disability in the Championships, so Will went and sailed as an equal with his peers.

He has since returned to Sea Scouts and has begun teaching young Scouts to sail as an Assistant Coach.

Will said: “I've won the Rotary Young Citizen Sporting Hero Award and I'm the first person to win it, which makes me feel extremely happy.

“I'd like to thank Twynham School and Christchurch Rotary for nominating me and well done to all the other Rotary Young Citizen Award winners and the other nominees. I'm really happy that I've won this Award and everything it's given to me.”

“I challenge the norm because I want other people with brain injuries and epilepsy to be able to take part in sailing and not to feel left out,” Will added.

He will receive a trophy, certificate and £300 to go towards his chosen project or charity from Rotary in Britain and Ireland.

The Rotary Young Citizen Awards Presentation had been due to take place at the UK’s first-ever Volunteer Expo, organised by Rotary International in Great Britain and Ireland at the NEC in Birmingham this month but the event has been postponed until May 2021 due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Rotary in Britain and Ireland President Donna Wallbank said: “Will is a teenager who shows that with determination and effort anything and everything is possible and it is a tribute to those who have undertaken this journey with Will that he continues to compete as an equal despite his disability.

“Will, as the first winner of the Rotary Young Citizen Sporting Hero Award, is a testimony to what this Award is about.”