Seniors and juniors paired for Chisholm Trophy on Gisborne and Poverty Bay greens

Fay Chisholm and daughter Teresa present the Chisholm Optional Pairs trophy, a mounted set of the late Michael Chisholm's old wooden bowls, to 2025 winners Paddy Stewart (skip, left) and Greg Flett. The trophy will be contested again this weekend.

A trophy celebrating the value of mentors will be contested by lawn bowlers in Gisborne this weekend.

The Chisholm Trophy Optional Pairs centre tournament is at the Gisborne and Poverty Bay club greens on Sunday and Monday.

Bowler, coach and umpire Michael Chisholm (1940-2020) encouraged senior players to take juniors as teammates to foster the development of those new to the game.

Players in the tournament established in his memory will compete in pairs comprising one senior and one junior (someone with up to eight years’ bowls experience).

Guidance from a senior player can give junior bowlers the chance to win their first centre title.

The trophy to be presented to the winners is a set of Michael Chisholm’s bowls mounted on a base.

A field of 26 pairs has been randomly divided into two sections – Section A with 14 pairs, and Section B, with 12. Section A will play at Gisborne and Section B at Poverty Bay.

Teams will play four games on each of the two days, with two points for a win and one for a draw. Games will last 12 ends or 90 minutes, whichever comes first.

After the first day’s play, pairs will be split into the top 16 (who play four rounds of a random draw at the Gisborne club) and plate section (three rounds of a random draw at Poverty Bay).

The luck of the draw can affect the outcome. With opponents drawn at random, a run of difficult games could stymie some contenders, while games against weaker opponents could grant others a relatively easy path to the top 16 and beyond.

The ability of the seniors as skips to support and encourage the juniors under their influence could be decisive.

Among the contenders in a strong field are (seniors named first) the Gisborne pairs of Andrew Ball (skip) and Chris Bunyan, Kym Brown (s) and Hiria Nepe, and former school principals Steve Berezowski (s) and Peter Ferris; Poverty Bay pairs Les Whittington (s) and John Andrews, Kathryn Flaugere (s) and Anna Colvin, and Anita Vaotuua (s) and BJ Seymour; Kahutia pairs July Hoepo (s) and Gerry Taingahue, Dayvinia Mills (s) and Geoff Pinn, Leighton Shanks (s) and Sha Hohipa, Glenys Whiteman (s) and Kelly Te Miha, and Dianne Phillips (s) and Karen Pinn; Te Karaka pair Diane Murray (s) and Jonathan Smith; and Tolaga Bay pairs Boon McIlroy (s) and Dyani Johnson, and father-daughter combo Don Williams and Krystel Williams (s).

Some interesting cross-club combinations are also entered. Outstanding Wairoa bowlers Glenda Kapene (s) and Vern Withey are paired with Kahutia up-and-comers Liam Pinn and his brother Kyle (s) respectively, while Willy Murray of Kahutia will skip Barbara Tuhi of Te Karaka, and Erica Thompson of Te Karaka will skip Andy Tamanui of Kahutia.

First-day matches to watch include the games between Hoepo and Mills, Flaugere and Ball, and Kapene and Williams at the Gisborne club, and – at the Poverty Bay club – those between Phillips and George Vaotuua, Kyle Pinn and Shanks, Shanks and Anita Vaotuua, and Kyle Pinn and Whiteman.

Play on both days is scheduled to start at 8.30am, with the last round of the day set to start at 2.10pm.