2019 Multibowl Wrap

by Denise McMillan on May 30, 2019

2019 National Multibowl Championship Wrap – Bowls WA Perspective

The 2019 National Multibowl Championships for players with physical disabilities (known as para-players) has been completed. This year’s event was held at Souths Suburban Bowling Club in Mackay QLD from May 19 to 24 – a great big thank you to the Venue Volunteers who were extremely helpful as the host venue during this event! Multibowl hosts Disability Sports Australia (DSA) where on hand to welcome the players and present awards after the final day of play.

These games offer competition based on physical disability classification of the athletes from B5 to B8 levels – classification is completed by International Bowls for the Disabled (IBD) technical and physical reviewers. WA’s side consisted of three B7 players and one B8 – a small side due to cost – they are pictured with their side manager noted inthe picture below.

Greg Power & Steve Murray (Scarborough), Manager: Denise McMillan (Bowls WA), Thomas Copping (Brookton), Eddie Gollan (Rossmoyne)

Tournament play started with Open Triples and then proceeded to Pairs and Singles for both male and female players. WA hosted one full triples state team (Skip: Eddie Gollan, Third: Steve Murray, Lead: Thomas Copping) and another player represented on a composite side (QLD Skip: Louise Hoskins, VIC Third: Shirley Ivanovic, WA Lead: Greg Power). The composite team got off to a stellar start winning 21 to 2 that was unfortunately followed by two losses. The WA triples side suffered a loss in the first-round game; however, came back fighting with two wins after, resulting in a solid 5^th place position out of 15 teams – this wasn’t enough to get into the Semi Finals though – so it was onto the Pairs and Singles the team went!

Composite Triples Team: Louse Hoskins (QLD), Greg Power (WA), Shirley Ivanovic (VIC) Thomas Copping (Bookton)

The B7/8 Pairs composition of Power and Copping found it hard to find their groove – without any wins they were awarded by the experience of playing in these games – particularly Copping who was attending the Multibowl event for the first time! Our other B7/8 Pairs team of Gollan and Murray showed their experience by entering in the Semi Finals as the Next Best team out of 10 and proceeded to win the Bronze Men’s B7/8 Pairs title! In the singles both Murray and Gollan went through with one win and two losses, while Copping and Power struggled to find the pace of the green.

Eddie Gollan accepting the Men’s B7/8 Pairs Bronze Medal (Steve Murray not available) from John Palmer (Tournament Director – Souths Suburban Bowling Club, Mackay QLD)

Overall, Victoria was the winning State with an total tally of 4 Gold, 2 Silver and 4 Bronze medals. This was followed by Queensland with 2 Gold, 4 Silver and 2 Bronze. New South Wales came third overall with 2 Gold, 2 Silver and a Bronze. Western Australia followed in fourth place with a Bronze win and this year ACT and Tasmania were not able to get on the medal board; however, it is notable that Tasmania grew from a side of four last year to nine this year – and brought quite the group of supporters with them!

In a surprise event at the Presentation Dinner, Bowls Australia Chief Operating Officer -Tony Sherwill, was honoured to be able to present three Para-Jackaroo caps to Eddie Gollan (WA), Josh Barry (VIC), and Tony Bonnell (QLD). These caps were presented retrospectively after having been recognized as playing for, and representing, Australia as a Para-Bowler. Bowls WA thanks Tony for all of his support for our sport over his past eleven years at Bowls Australia and wishes him all the best at his new position as CEO of Bowls Victoria in the future!

Eddie Gollan accepting his Bowls Australia Para-Jackaroo Cap from Tony Sherwill (BA)

Thank you to everyone who supports Bowls WA para-bowlers, our volunteers and most importantly – the players who participated – congratulations on your efforts!

Next year will bring changes to the format, and perhaps even the hosts, of the Nationals Disability Championships – we look forward to seeing how this wonderful event will move forward in future years!