Guillaume Lannes, at 17, was the youngest player ever to enter the British Chamber of Commerce Annual Golf Tournament. Playing off a handicap of just one, he was a winner at the first attempt as part of the four-man BISS team and won a VIP pass to the Masters Tournament that was recently held at the Sheshan Golf Club.

He has a burning ambition to win a golfing scholarship to Stanford University in the United States.

Lannes is currently a year 12 student at the British International School, Shanghai enrolled on the International Baccalaureate Diploma Program at the Puxi campus, where he is studying maths, physics and chemistry at higher level and English, Mandarin and history at standard level.

In addition to being an extremely talented sportsman he is also a gifted scholar.

Having joined the school midway through the two-year IGCSE program, he still managed to achieve eight grades between A* and C.

He is multi-lingual speaking French, Spanish and near perfect English and is now mastering Mandarin.

Unprompted, the teenager was very complimentary of the teaching staff at BISS: "There is a great relationship between teachers and students where we are mentored and treated as adults. This came as a pleasant surprise as my previous experience with my teachers back home was one where teachers came to lessons to lecture and then they left."

The young Parisian takes life in Shanghai in his stride but admits that there was a big step up from IGCSE to IB, with a heavier and harder workload than he had expected.

Last year, he was able to practice his golf at least four times a week with his Scottish coach Michael Dickie from the Leadbetter Academy. Now he can only manage twice a week. However, he recognizes the importance of academic achievement in addition to his sporting passion.

In addition to golf, Lannes also plays and represents the school in rugby and volleyball. He was a member of the Association of China and Mongolia International Schools Championship winning volleyball team at the recent tournament held here in Shanghai.

He will also be playing rugby for the school in the U18's contact tournament to be held at the BISS Nanxiang campus on December 8.

Noel Wallace, head of physical education for the Puxi campus commented: "Guillaume is a naturally talented sportsman but is also an excellent team player and I would not be surprised if he achieves his sporting ambitions."

Outside of school he enjoys playing piano for his own pleasure and travelling around Asia. So far he has been to Thailand, Cambodia and Australia. He has made many friends through school and the local community and comments that expat life in Shanghai has been very rewarding and much easier to adapt to than he expected.

(Shanghai Daily November 14, 2007)