85 Year gap showdown at Pennants
On Saturday 14th January at Joondalup Bowling Club an interesting game played out during the Saturday Open Gender 4th Division Pennants.
“A great story was unfolding before my eyes on D1 the rink next door to ours” – Ren Plummer comments
The Joondalup Mixed Gender side of; third Kerri Powell, second Sophie Hays, lead Linda Bye and guided by skip Nigel Poulton faced off against a very experienced all Men’s team from Dalkeith Nedlands skipped by John Bridge. The interest in the match came with Sophie Hays from Joondalup just 12 years old facing off against 97 year old Ken Brooke as retrospective seconds for their teams.
Sophie started playing corporate bowls a couple years ago with her dad, Brian. She spent six to seven hours with Geoff to start learning bowls. Later on she bought her own bowls and joined in with the Junior Programme run by Mark Roemermann. This season, she nominated for mixed gender pennants and began in Joondalup’s 5th Division side. After a month of positive reports, they decided to try Sophie in 4th Division. The game against Dalkeith Nedlands was her first game at this level.
Geoff Stevenson roots for Sophie’s potential, ” Watch this space!!!” he said when talking about Sophie’s progress in bowls and obvious potential to go further in the game.
It’s fantastic to see a new young bowler joining the Bowls community and learning from a veteran opposition team. With an 85 year gap its great to see different generations connect over the game of Bowls.
The match itself was by no means tedious either. Nigel Poulton gives an insight on the turning point for Joondalup that allowed them to come out on top after a substantial deficit.
“We did not start off well even though the ladies were putting in some good bowls, only getting the odd shot for the first 11 ends”
With a score of 18-6 at the 11th end, John Bridge’s team had the momentum to win the match.
It was at this Point Nigel changed strategies, “We had a chat at the crossover and i suggested that they concentrate all their bowls down the narrow side this worked Sophie being in the head most ends giving Ken a real challenge“
Nigel’s team picked up a 1 thereafter followed by a 4. The confidence began to grow for the Joondalup side as another 4 was claimed. “the bowls were now being bowled with confidence either hand all I did was defend the end on the 20th end we got a 5 giving us a 3 shot lead“
With a 3 point lead and a fantastic comeback the Joondalup Side goes on to win and Nigel goes on to congratulate both teams on a great game. “the final end we managed to restrict them to 1 winning by 2 shots what a great game played by both sides.”
The final score ended in Joondalup 25 – Dalkeith 23. After coming back from a substantial deficit the win helped Joondalup win the aggregate by 12.
Thank you to Geoff Stevenson for the infomation and Ren Plummer for the initial Article and Photo of this fantastic Story.
“What a wonderful advertisement for our game where we see the very youngest learning from the wily old veterans and having fun doing it. Well played guys.” – Ren’s final words on the match.
Have any interesting or wholesome stories to do with Bowls? – email aaronclark@bowlswa.com.au to share the experience to bowlers state wide!
