2017 VIBBWA State Singles
RESULTS:
The Vision Impaired and Blind Bowler’s Association of WA (VIBBWA) held their State Singles Championships at Perth & Tattersalls Club last week with many high standard games and close results.
The Ladies overall winner was Sharon Ferres (Director Trevor Ferres). Sharon also won the B2 section.
The B3 winner was Mavis Ballantyne (Director Bob Ballantyne).
The Men’s overall winner was John Ryan (Director Lyn Ryan). John completed a clean sweep of all his games and was also the B1 winner. This is the first time a totally blind bowler has ever won the State Singles event.
The B2 winner was Barry Green (Director Deb Rhine). Barry is a new bowler playing in his first State Championship.
The B4 winner was David Goddard (Director Mike Sermon).
For those unfamiliar with the term ‘Director’ this is the non-playing partner who acts as the ‘eyes’ of the vision impaired bowler. Their direction can be physical (by touch), verbal (by talk), and mental (creating a picture of the head). The Director tells the player how long the jack is from the front of the mat and describes the opponents bowls around the head so that the player can choose the shots they wish to play.
PICTURES:
Photos taken on Wednesday 11 October can be viewed on the Bowls WA Photo Album by clicking HERE.
CLASSIFICATION DEFINED:
As noted in the aboce write-up there are four levels to classifying a vision impaired bowler:
B1 – Completely Blind (100%)
B2 – Visual Acuity of 2/60 (see at 2 metres what a normal sighted person sees at 60 meters)
B3 – Visual Acuity of 2/60 to 6/60 (able to recognise the top level of an eye chart up to 6 meters)
B4 – Visual Acuity better than 6/60 up to 6/24 (restricted visual fields – aka tunnel vision)
