2018 All Abilities State Championship Wrap
The 2018 State All Ability State Championships were played last weekend, April 7th and 8th, at Kardinya Bowling Club with 49 participants in four categories of Bowling Arm, Deaf, Intellectual and Physical. Entries were up from last year where there were 29 participants – a 41% growth in one year! Bowls WA looks forward to further participation increase in the coming years.
Two of the categories played for selection in state sides for the National Bowling Arm Challenge and the Physical Multi-bowl Nationals. 2018 will be the second year that WA has had a representative side attending the National Bowling Arm Challenge – the side will be announced this coming Monday 16th May at 9 am. The Challenge requires a side of 15 (three teams of 5) plus 2 reserves playing Singles and Fours along with Pairs and Triples over the four day tournament. The state representative physical disability side playing the Multibowl Nationals run under Disability Sport Australia, being hosted in WA for the first time from May 20th to 25th, will be the fifth time WA has attended. The side will be announced at 4 pm on Monday 16th May. Each state is allowed a side of 10 players – 6 men and 4 women – WA was able to select 6 men and 2 women. These games are the classification pathway to international bowling opportunities such as the Commonwealth Games where Australia para-triples have only yesterday accomplished Gold. The only way to potentially be involved in such opportunities is to get on the green, and apply yourself to the game!
Our Deaf and Intellectual participants were not seeding for a state or national side – they played for the joy of the game and being able to compete amongst their peers in a rare opportunity for state recognition. And what fun was had!!! Lots of laughter and plenty of competitive bowls marked the weekend with players participating in Singles and Pairs in the Deaf, Intellectual and Physical categories while the Bowling Arm players took part in Singles and Triples.
It was a fight to the end; however, the winners of each category for Gold and Silver are as follows:
A Facebook album can be viewed at the following link:
https://www.facebook.com/pg/asportforlife/photos/?tab=album&album_id=1932177716853364
Bowls WA thanks everyone for their participation, the volunteers who made this happen, and Kardinya Bowling Club for hosting this fantastic event!
