The future of junior bowls in the western region looks bright, according to NSW state junior selector John Rodis.
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Two dozen juniors from across the Central West converged on Club Dubbo on Monday for the start of the Zone 4 Junior Singles Championships. Another eight juniors did battle at Molong Bowling Club.
Rodis said there was a high standard of play on show, despite a much younger group of competitors compared with previous years.
“It’s probably not as strong as past years because the players are a lot younger and there are a lot of 11 and 12 year olds here,” he said.
“In the past we’ve had 17 and 18 year olds, they’ve sort of got too old, and of course young Jono Davis, our star, has left and want to Sydney so we’ve lost him.
“But the quality is improving and they’ll be a lot better bowlers in the next couple of years.
“We’ll have some good representative players here if they stick to the game.”
We’ll have some good representative players here if they stick to the game.
- John Rodis
Monday saw the juniors compete in a round robin format, with the winner of each section going through to the quarter-finals on Wednesday morning.
Local favourite Hayden Barrow, of Dubbo City Bowling Club, managed a clean sweep of section three with three wins and plus-25 to stake his claim on the Zone 4 title.
Jessica Ball – another home town favourite, and the only female competitor on the green on Monday afternoon – also won her section with two wins and plus-13.
Gulgong’s Cody Ross scored an upset win with plus-3 over Nyngan Bowling Club’s young gun Tim Walsh. Ross went on to win section four with three straight wins and plus-29.
Mudgee Bowling Club’s Tom Rich was the only competitor to win his section despite recording a loss, managing two wins and plus-19 ahead of Jarrod Kolenberg (of Trangie)’s two wins and plus-3.
Tom Bowman (Coonabarabran Bowling Club, three wins and plus-48) and Jordan Thompson (Gulgong Bowling Club, three wins and plus-38) snagged the final two finals spots after dominant performances in sections seven and eight respectively.
Rodis said the selector’s job would be difficult this year.
“Some of the ones we haven’t seen before, this is the first time we’ve seen them here so they’ve got opportunities in the singles and we’ve got the pairs on [on Tuesday],” he said.
“Then we’ve got the Fours next Tuesday, which will be held down at Molong and from that we’ll be picking two seven-a-side teams to go away and represent us in August, plus the winners of this will go and represent in July in the State Championships.”
