READY TO PLAY: Gisborne bowlers (from left) Angela Gibson-Sam, Paige Richter and Ashli Ferris are playing at the national secondary schools champs in Auckland this week. Picture by Liam Clayton
BOWLS
EAGER to try their hand at bowls in school or encouraged by relatives, five young Gisborne bowlers haven’t looked back.
A trio of teens — Angela Gibson-Sam, Ashli Ferris and Paige Richter — are competing in the national secondary schools tournament that started in Auckland today.
Luke Sanders is getting ready for a national under-23 tournament in Christchurch this weekend.
Ten-year-old Ashar McKnight, the youngest club member in the Bowls Gisborne East Coast Centre, is not yet old enough to attend national tournaments but he spends many hours on the green.
Why did they choose bowls?
Angela Gisbon-SamGenerally softly spoken, Angela Gibson-Sam bristles at the suggestion bowls is a sport for older people.
“Bowls isn’t an old people’s game,” she said.
“It’s for all ages.
“I think it would be cool if more young people started playing.”
Gibson-Sam, 15, is a Year 11 student at Campion College.
She has been preparing for the national secondary schools champs this week.
“It’s good because you don’t feel like you’re the only young person (who’s into the sport),” she said.
However, experienced players at the Gisborne Bowling Club made her feel welcome and comfortable.
Gibson-Sam has represented her club at interclub level, as well as the Bowls Gisborne East Coast Centre at junior level and is part of the centre’s senior development team.
She moved from Auckland to Gisborne two years ago.
Her mother, Barbara Gibson, had been a member of the Glen Eden Bowling Club.
“My mum started playing bowls up there and I was interested,” Gibson-Sam said.
It began as an after-school activity for her and she practised for winter bowls.
She prefers singles, there being more bowls for her to set up or execute what she wants to do.
Each match is a battle of minds, as well as skill.
Gibson-Sam is coached by her mother, who also plays at the Gisborne Bowling Club.
Ashli FerrisAshli Ferris has no trouble recalling the coolest bowls shot he has ever played.
It was in a pairs game at the end of last year.
“We were down three shots . . . I played a run shot and it took the jack . . .”
They went from down three to plus four.
Ferris, 15, is a Year 11 student at Gisborne Boys’ High School and plays at the Gisborne Bowling Club.
His father, Jamey Ferris, is greenkeeper for both the Gisborne and Kahutia clubs and the teenager gives him a hand.
“When he started playing, I watched him play and I was interested in the game,” Ashli Ferris said.
He picked up the sport for fun at intermediate school and then took it more seriously, foregoing rugby and cricket.
“I guess it’s a big mind game, how you think about it.”
Like Gibson-Sam, Ferris has represented his club at interclub level, and the centre at junior level and is part of its senior development team.
He has been to weekly practice sessions for the secondary schools champs for more than two months.
He is looking forward to competing against people about the same age.
Watching the likes of former world champion Shannon McIlroy, originally from Gisborne, was inspiring but “the biggest inspiration is from my dad”.
“He supported me — taught me the basics of the game.”
Ashar McKnightAshar McKnight’s grandmother June Stichbury encouraged him to give the sport a try and he has quickly become devoted, often getting to the Poverty Bay Bowling Club after school on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
McKnight, 10, is a Year 6 pupil at Central School.
“My nana plays bowls,” he said.
“She said to come and have a go. After a while playing the game with her, I liked it.”
His grandmother has been a member of the Poverty Bay club for as long as he has been alive and he has played for “probably a year”.
“It was scary when I first started playing (with experienced bowlers),” McKnight said.
“It was pretty hard at the start but now it’s easy for me, because I’m getting better and better.”
New to the sport, McKnight has been showing a lot of dedication and he plans to carry on.
“I like playing bowls because you get to meet new people,” he said.
“It’s awesome playing a game with other young bowlers, and older people.”
Paige RichterWith her first bowl, Paige Richter did what many of us have feared we might do.
“I had the wrong bias and gave it too much weight and it went into the ditch,” she said.
“I’ve definitely improved from that.”
Richter, 15, is in Year 11 at Lytton High School and she particularly enjoys a team environment.
“I’m a person who likes to socialise and be around people.”
Gisborne’s young bowlers go to different schools, so Richter will have to play singles at the secondary schools champs.
“I’m nervous and excited. I’m not really a singles player and I’m used to being in a team,” she said.
“It’s a lot more fun in a team.”
Normally a lead, she has recently been given the opportunity to play other roles in the team.
Richter may be the youngest Burton Cup winner.
She was a member of the winning team for the competition held at the Gisborne Bowling Club in February.
She has represented Kahutia in interclub competitions, and the centre at junior level and is part of its senior development team.
Her coolest shot?
“I was at a New Zealand tournament called Maori Bowls. It was to qualify to get into the finals. With my first bowl, I hit the kitty into the ditch and won the game for us.”
She started playing bowls in Year 7 at Ilminster Intermediate.
“I was the only girl at that stage,” she said.
Richter started playing competitively from Year 9, practising at the Kahutia Bowling Club.
“I just found the love for it,” she said.
“My Aunty Peggie gave me my first set of bowls, which helped spark my passion for lawn bowls.”
Richter has a bowls partner, Lucy Shanks, and she also learns from more experienced campaigners.
“Just to be around them is really cool,” she said.
“They’ve got lots of history behind them. And I do know some of their grandchildren, so I can talk to them about that.
“It’s cool to get to know other people other than your own age. I like to be around all different ages.”
Bowls could look deceptively easy but “in real life, it’s not”.
“I love the sport.
“It’s an awesome way to spend my weekend.”
Luke SandersUnder instructions from his parents to play a summer sport, Luke Sanders chose bowls.
He was at Gisborne Intermediate School back then and a note in the newsletter prompted him to have a go.
“I found it quite good, quite fun,” he said.
Sanders, 17, finished his schooling at Lytton High last year and he works at the Countdown supermarket.
He will go to the South Island for the first time this weekend, to play in the national under-23 singles event in Christchurch.
“It’s probably the biggest tournament I’ve played so far.”
He has attended two u18 tournaments in the past.
Sanders had a break from the sport a few years ago and had intended to join Bowls Riverside but the club closed in 2014.
He later joined the Gisborne Bowling Club.
“I like the people involved,” he said.
“It’s good use of an afternoon or weekend.”
He has also represented his club and the centre and is part of the senior development squad.