Bowls: Fast-rising Whanganui star Kaylin Huwyler sets sights on Blackjacks squad

Rising bowls star Kaylin Huwyler says the sport is attracting a growing cohort of younger and Māori players.

A young Whanganui bowler who’s only in his fourth year of playing is racking up an impressive series of achievements in the bowling world.

Kaylin Huwyler, 28, made a stunning debut on the international scene, winning two gold medals at the Oceania Challenge, a World Bowls-sanctioned showcase of Southern Hemisphere national teams.

Playing for Aotearoa Māori, Huwyler (Te Ātihaunui-a-Pāpārangi, Ngā Paerangi hapū and Ngāti Apa, Ngāti Kauae hapū) beat Tonga in the final to take out the men’s singles and teamed up in the triples with Taranaki youngsters Hamish Kape, 26, and Nathan Goodin, 19, to earn his second gold.

Competing against 17 teams from Tonga, Samoa, Papua New Guinea, Norfolk Island, Niue, Fiji, the Cook Islands, Tokelau, Australia and a New Zealand U-26 side, the Aotearoa Māori team of 10 cleaned up at the inaugural Oceania Challenge, medalling in every event and winning overall team of the tournament.

The team bagged four gold medals – the men’s singles, men’s triples, women’s triples and women’s fours – two silvers in the men’s and women’s pairs, and two bronze medals in the men’s fours and the women’s singles.

The wins at Auckland’s Blockhouse Bay in April came on the heels of Huwyler’s first national success in January when his Paritutu fours team took out the prestigious week-long 118th Taranaki Men’s Open Fours.

“That was a huge accomplishment for our team, a very exhausting week,” Huwyler said. “The Taranaki Open is the largest bowls event in New Zealand in terms of entries, with 180-plus men’s teams alone and players from all over the country and Australia.”

Huwyler and teammates Kape, Aidan Zittersteijn and Daryl Read went into the knockout rounds undefeated after winning all six qualifying games and remained unbeaten after another seven rounds to win the tournament.

The unbroken run included overcoming Peter Belliss’ Aramoho fours in a cliffhanger semifinal.

“[We were] pretty much neck-and-neck the whole way. Peter had an advantage on us, he was ahead by four shots going into the last and we picked up a five to win by one. Aidan Zittersteijn probably played the best bowl I’ve ever seen in my life to help us win that game. It was just an awesome moment to be there – the atmosphere, and obviously to play Peter. It was a very special win.”

Huwyler was raised in Whanganui but now lives in New Plymouth, where he works as a financial analyst for green hydrogen renewable energy producer Hiringa Energy. He and his father Phil are dual members of Whanganui’s Durie Hill Bowling Club and Paritutu Bowling Club in New Plymouth, splitting their club events between both clubs each season.

In Whanganui, he plays singles for Durie Hill’s Premier 1 Interclub Seven team, which claimed the title in November for the first time in 28 years, and singles for the Whanganui Men’s Senior Intercentre team, who are regional representatives.

It’s been a busy few years. One milestone Huwyler is particularly proud of is collecting a gold star for five Taranaki wins in just 18 months – the quickest player ever to win the star after just two seasons of part-time play in Taranaki. Huwyler’s wins were centre fours (2022), champion-of-champions triples (2022), centre fours (2023), open fours (2023) and champion-of-champions triples (2023).

“That’s something I’m very proud of – a bit of history I can put my name to.”

Huwyler also claimed two Whanganui Centre titles during the same period – the 2022 men’s centre open triples alongside his father and Bruce Winterburn; and Durie Hill’s 2023 champion-of-champions men’s singles title.

Over the weekend the gold star was presented, Huwyler was also rewarded with a win in the men’s triples playing alongside his dad, who introduced him to the sport just four years ago.

“My dad got me into bowls – he got into bowls through a mate inviting him up to the club, not to play, but just for a beer. And then he got the bug. He would invite me up to play in the Friday social league when I came back during breaks from Otago University.

“I had a couple of goes, really enjoyed it, and then I was a fill-in one day, played my first proper game and got the bug as well. It is very much underrated how much fun the game is, and I’ve always been quite competitive at sports.

“One or two years in, I knew what I wanted to try to achieve and I’ve been fortunate enough to be quite successful over these last couple of years toward some of those goals.”

In February, Huwyler and his father made the final in the Aotea-Whanganui men’s four at the National Māori Bowls tournament, and at the beginning of July, Huwyler played centre champs from across the country in the 2023 National Champion-of-Champions singles in Hastings, knocking out two highly rated players from Southland and Canterbury to reach the final.

Up against Blackjack, Bowls NZ World Cup squad member and Auckland centre champ Tony Grantham – also from Whanganui – the final was a showpiece for the sport. Proud dad Phil described it as a thrilling encounter.

“Although Kaylin lost the final, it was a great match, with Kaylin leading 8-7. Then Tony stepped up his game and made some crucial saves when Kaylin was about to run away with the match. The game could have gone either way, but on that day it went Tony’s.”

Huwyler’s ambition is to make the Blackjacks.

“Maybe three or five years down the line, I’ll be looking to hopefully make the New Zealand Blackjacks team that plays the Commonwealth Games, and there’s the World Championships. That’s the ultimate goal.

“There’s a formal development team and a tier below that which I’m striving for. I’m looking for potentially making that team next season or within the next couple of years.”

Huwyler is no stranger to representing New Zealand. As a junior golfer, he also played for New Zealand Māori and New Zealand.

“I started playing golf when I was three, once again through my dad. I took that quite seriously at quite a young age. I had a handicap at six years old and was a member of the Tāwhero Golf Club in Whanganui.

“I represented New Zealand in Australia and the US when I was 10 and also played for the New Zealand Under-19 Māori team throughout my years at high school.”

Huwyler initially hoped to become a professional golf player but gave up competitive golf after high school.

He said bowls was attracting a growing cohort of younger and Māori players.

“It’s definitely not just an older person’s sport. With the number of young – and Māori – players, especially in Taranaki, I think we’ve proven that wrong. Some prominent young players are coming out of the regions. We’re punching above our weight and competing with some of the best.

“The season is full-on, and in the long summer season, you can play almost every weekend from October through to April. It’s usually a two-day weekend, and you’re looking at five to eight hours on the green each day. You’re not going to do that as someone in your 20s unless you are quite committed to pursuing a bit more than just a social roll-up.

“It’s been good for young players to see other young players, and I think that’s why we keep going and pursue further honours in the sport.”