WA Under 18 Team Announced
The WA Under 18 State Team to contest the National Under 18 Championships at Taren Point Bowls Club, New South Wales from September 29th to October 2nd has been announced.
Ken Perks (Head Coach of Under 18s), Clive Adams (Assistant Coach), and Lee-Anne Green (Assistant Coach) have chosen a team that will seek to compete against the best young players in the country. As such the players have been selected on that basis after a number of squad selection practices.
The Team:
Boys
Singles Kaleb Walding
Pairs Jack East & Kaleb Walding (Sk)
Triples Cory Day, Marcus Simpson, Patrick Quinlan (Sk)
Fours Cory Day, Jack East, Marcus Simpson, Patrick Quinlan (Sk)
Two of the three newcomers in the boys team, Jack East from Rossmoyne and Kaleb Walding from Dampier, have had a fantastic year with Kaleb winning the 2017 Men’s Country Week Singles at the age of 16 in addition to winning the State Junior Singles and Pairs with Jack East. Jack on the other hand began bowling within the past year and after he won Rossmoyne’s Novice Men’s Singles (and his mom Michelle Armstrong respectively for Women) he went forward to win the State Pairs with Kaleb – the future is bright for 15 year old Jack.
The third newcomer to our boys team is 14 year old Marcus Simpson from Rockingham – while Marcus is new to WA he is not new to bowls having been previously selected for the NT Junior Side and winning the 2015 Pairs at the National Under 18 Championships.
Remaining team mates 14 year old Patrick Quinlan of Osborne Park and 15 year old Cory Day of Carnarvon were strong contenders at last years Nationals winning gold in the boy’s fours. Patrick has been on the state team since 2015, was part of the 2016 State Triples Junior win, and last year was selected as a member of the then Junior Jackaroos Squad. Cory won the State Junior Pairs in 2016 and was part of the winning gold fours last year.
Girls (proposed)
Singles Georgia Cant
Pairs Georgia Cant (Sk)
Triples Kellie Ainsworth (Sk)
Fours Kellie Ainsworth (Sk)
The Pairs, Triples and Fours combinations will be completed with the support of Northern Territory girls following their own team selection.
Kellie Ainsworth, 17, of Warnbro has been on the State Team since 2012 and has steadily gained recognition as a valuable bowler with a 2013 bronze win in fours at the Nationals and a 2016 bronze in Triples. Georgia Cant of Meadow Springs,16, had a similarly good 2016 winning the State Singles and placing bronze in the National Pairs. We look forward to seeing similar results in 2017!
