On the mats Indoor bowls news

A study in concentration: Lois Lamont sends down a bowl for Poverty Bay-East Coast in the Patterson Top 8 indoor bowls event in Gisborne last July. Lamont has been selected to play in the North Island Academy four in Ashburton next month. Picture by Paul Rickard

POVERTY Bay-East Coast indoor bowler Lois Lamont has been selected in the North Island Academy women’s four to play against the South Island Academy next month.

They will be part of the contest for the Sam Henderson Memorial Trophy being held at the Summerset National Indoor Bowls Championships in Ashburton on June 13.

Also being held at the championships will be the competition between the northern and southern zone masters’ teams for the Delwyn Hughes Trophy. The only criteria for the masters’ teams is that players must have entered in the national championships and be over the age of 60.

For the academy teams, players selected for New Zealand and the North and South Island teams (excluding reserves) in the previous two years are ineligible to be picked.

The trophies are contested by teams of 20 — 10 men and 10 women, selected as men’s and women’s singles, pairs, triples and fours.

The academy teams are regarded as a stepping stone for North or South Island representation. This competition is also seen as an opportunity to see how players perform at a higher level, and a chance for players coming back into the sport to stake a claim for higher honours.

The other members of the North Island Academy fours team are Shelley Jacombs (Hutt Valley, skip), Michelle Watt (North Taranaki) and Cindy White (Counties).

Another Poverty Bay-East Coast indoor bowler, David Lynn, is manager of the North Island Academy team and the northern zone masters’ team.

Lamont, 57, has been playing indoor bowls for 35 years. She has been picked for the North Island Academy pairs for the past two years.

She has 60 centre titles to her name, and has competed alongside two of her grandchildren, Kaia Matenga and Karma Matenga, achieving centre titles and runner-up positions with them.

Lamont is also looking forward to the Patterson Shield games for Poverty Bay-East Coast in Whakatane in July.