Talking bowls, with Simon Westby

BOWLS:Word is filtering back from Marton about how a young fellow joined up their bowling club, showed a bit of talent, had a bit of success, and then attracted the rest of his family to join up. Geoffrey Smith joined the Marton Bowling Club in January 2003, aged just 14.
He soon showed he had a bit of natural ability and has progressed accordingly. After two years playing the game, last January he entered and took out the Manawatu under-19 singles title which qualifies him for the Kittyhawk singles event at Onehunga held over Easter. This prestigious event is becoming a good talent-spotting tournament which has thrown up the likes of Shannon McIroy in the short time it has been held. Not bad going for a 16-year-old who will keep coming back with even more experience each year. His younger sister, Jaimee,12, started bowling at the same time and also shows promise. She also entered the Manawatu under-19 singles event and acquitted herself well. The pair of them also won their respective junior singles championships at the Marton club. In Geoffrey's case he beat his father Trevor in the final ? the latter started playing at the same time as his children.
The final was a tense affair?with a?standard of bowls which I have been led to believe would have done credit to any senior players.
Rounding out the family involvement, this year wife and mother Carol has taken up the game as well.
Good on the lot of them, I say. Just goes to show you don't know where your next lot of members can spring from and it pays if members keep an eye out for any opportunity to increase the membership base at club level. r r r r
National coach Stu Buttar and national coaching co-ordinator Lyn Johnston recently held information sessions in selected centres to inform coaches and other interested people about the High Performance Plan, the coach education and accreditation system in relation to high performance coaching and their desire to employ coaches on an hourly basis to work with carded players, subject to funding for the programme from Sparc.
The goal is to seek coaches in specific regions to take responsibility of regularly working with carded players under Buttar's guidance. Bowls New Zealand (BNZ) will pay the coaches an hourly rate which will ensure that the system provides a level of consistency for the players.
Where carded players have personal coaches, they will be included as part of the system (although not paid by BNZ) and will be asked to attend training sessions so that players are getting their skill development reinforced at every stage.
It is intended that the system be implemented in areas where most of the carded players are based and Wanganui is one of those areas.
The purpose of these sessions is to make certain that coaches who intend applying fully understand the coach accreditation system and High Performance Plan.
The vision of BNZ is to establish consistency in the plans and not having people veering off on a tangent. There is a requirement that those interested are keen on coaching on a regular basis and are working to achieve higher levels of performance.
So if this brief summary has got your coaching wheels turning you can register your interest with Lyn Johnston by emailing her on lyn.johnston@clear.net.nz r r r r
Finally I would like to take this opportunity to wish your and yours a happy and safe Easter weekend. Simon's email address simonwestby@hotmail.com