On the mats — Indoor bowls news

FAMILY VICTORY: The Rickard family — daughter Rachael, father Andrew and son Adam — teamed up to win the Poverty Bay-East Coast Indoor Bowls centre open trios. They staged a remarkable comeback to win the final 10-9, after being 9-4 down after six ends of the nine-end final. Picture by LiamClayton

Andrew Rickard teamed up with his nine-year-old son Adam and 13-year-old daughter Rachael to win the Poverty Bay-East Coast Indoor Bowls centre open trios 10-9 against tournament favourites Arnold Hutchins, Dylan Foster and Bruce Easton.

In a remarkable comeback, the Rickards came back from being 9-4 down after six ends of the nine-end final to score three shots on End 7, one shot on End 8 and one shot on End 9 to force an extra end.

In that extra end, the Rickards were three down on the head and looked down and out until Andrew’s last bowl. With his last bowl, he ran through the Hutchins team’s shot bowls to drag the kitty back for three shots.

Hutchins, with his last bowl, played up into Rickard’s shots, but only cleared out two of those bowls, which left the Rickards with one shot and the win.

This was Adam’s first centre title and he is the youngest bowler in the Bay to win a centre title. Nicknamed the “little battleship”, the Central School student played great bowls all day.

Rachael, a Lytton High School student, played accurate draw bowls at lead. It was her first centre title, too. For Andrew, it was his 13th centre title.

Andrew, a single parent, introduced the sport to his children as he felt it was a great sport for all the family to play.

And play they did, with Andrew giving his children great encouragement throughout the tournament.

“It was great to see both kids working together as a team,” he said.

“I have taught them to never give up, and the two games showed the benefit of that.

“They were ecstatic afterwards.

“In the semifinal against John Harvey, Kevin Lee and Molly Young, the score was locked at 9-9 and we had to play an extra end. On my last bowl, I managed to drag the jack back to my family’s bowls near the end of the mat, making it very difficult for John to get to, and we scored three shots on the extra end to go through to the final.”

The Rickards are members of the Waerenga a Hika club.