A moment that changed me: A WhatsApp message about a little-known sport made me an unlikely celebrity in Japan

Published 17 June 2026 · world

I’d always wanted to represent my country at something, so when I learned about Mölkky, I got a team together It was December 2023 and

I’d always wanted to represent my country at something, so when I learned about Mölkky, I got a team together It was December 2023 and I was searching in the attic for Christmas decorations when my phone pinged.

I pulled it out of my pocket and found a WhatsApp message from my son who was backpacking in Australia. The message read, simply: “You might want to take a look at this” – it was accompanied by a short video clip.

The footage was grainy – it was night-time somewhere in Queensland and the streetlights weren’t the brightest – but I could make out Louis and his travel companion Asher throwing what looked like a rolling pin at a collection of numbered wooden skittles.

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