Introducing Bowls Blitz
The Bowls WA High Performance Committee supported by the Innovations Committee, made the decision to trial a new competition comprising all the disciplines of fours, triples, pairs and singles in a team tournament.
Bowls Blitz will be held over four Sunday’s starting on Sunday May 23rd and will continue Sunday June 27th, Sunday July 11th and culminating with the final rounds on August 8th along with Semi Finals and Finals.
After the completion of the tournament, it will be evaluated and hoped that a Club versus Club version could come online in the future.
What Teams are Taking Part?
Eight of Bowls WA Sponsors and Supporters have taken up the opportunity to be a part of the tournament, with each franchise being assigned with a team manager.
Blooms The Chemist Stars – Therese Hastings
Motobility Charges – Lindsay Thorn
Liquor Traders Pirates – Helen Stevens
Senior Recreation Council Sharpshooters – Jaewyn Norton
Dyenamic Cyclones – Tony Hockey
Henselite Enforcers – Pieter Harris
Trophy Warehouse Pinnacles – Linda Warburton
BCiB Blitz – Ken Pride
How Many Players Are Going to be Involved?
Each franchise will consist of eight players, making a total of 64 players involved. There will also be a substitutions list, in case players are unavailable during the tournament
Who Are Playing in These Teams?
There will be three selection periods to complete the teams
Stage 1. Each of the Franchise Managers will meet and select a Captain for each team. The Captains will be selected from the current Open State Squads
Stage 2 Each of the Franchise Managers will meet to select the remaining Open State Squad members into the teams.
Stage 3 The remaining positions will be filled by players outside the Open State Squads. Bowls WA will call for players to nominate their interest in joining a team. The Franchise Managers will then meet to complete their roster.
So, anybody can nominate to be selected on a team?
Yes, they can
Franchise Managers will need to select a total of 23 players to fill permanent positions on the squads. For those that miss out on selection, they will be listed on a substitution list in case squad members are unable to play on any given week.
Further information on how you nominate will be released after the partial squads are selected by the Franchise Managers.
What Will a Day of Competition Look Like?
Each day will consist of four rounds which will culminate in a total of fourteen rounds with each Franchise playing each other twice.
Each round will be timed and will go for one hour and thirty minutes
A variety of disciplines will take place each round
A typical day will look something like this
Sunday 23rd May
Round 1 9.00am – 10.30am: 3 x pairs
Round 2 10.45am – 12.15pm: 1 x single, 1 x pairs, 1 x triples
Round 3 12.45pm – 2.15pm: 2 x singles, 1 x fours
Round 4 2.30pm – 4.00pm: 2 x triples
Each Fixture only has six players involved but each Franchise has eight players?
Not playing does not mean a player will not play in the round. Franchise Managers will find ways to change things up during a round if things are not going so well.
Each Franchise Manager may make a maximum of 5 substitutions per round in any of the disciplines playing. This could include changing player positions, rotating a bench player into the game on a permanent basis or maybe just for that one important bowl during the game.
Just normal points for a rink win?
A different game needs a different points allocation, so we will be using a method that encourages consistency as well as risk taking
Scoring
- 10 points per rink win
- 1 point for every end won (Singles may vary)
Bonus points
- 2 bonus points for a 4 in singles
- 2 bonus points for a 6 in pairs
- 2 bonus points for a 6 in triples
- 2 bonus points for a 5 in fours
- 5 bonus points for an 8 in fours
Coin toss to decide who gets the mat at the start of the game?
That sounds kind of boring!
Before each fixture one member from each team will have a one bowl shootout with closest to the jack deciding if they keep the mat or give it away for all disciplines playing that round. To ensure everybody shares the pressure, each squad member can only take part a maximum of twice over the fourteen rounds.
Finals?
On August 8th, we will play the final two rounds in the morning and then the top four teams on the ladder playing Semi Finals and Finals in the afternoon
Semi Finals 1 v 4 and 2 v3
Final: Winners of both Semi Finals
The finals will require all eight of the squad members across singles, pairs and fours.
Further components of Finals Day will be released as we draw closer.
Live Streaming
We do envisage live streaming will take place but that is not guaranteed at this point. We encourage people to come down and have a look if at all possible and enjoy the atmosphere and all the high-level bowls across the rinks.
Venues
Venues are currently being sourced and will be advertised along with the full fixtures once finalised.
Where will I be able to see fixtures and results?
We currently have a very busy elf working on a Bowls Blitz Website where all fixtures, results, squad members, stories and video will be housed.
Stay tuned for the released of the website very soon.
