Encouraging Start to the Season and Under 8 Players Names for Trial

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Encouraging start of Season for Taranaki Bowls:

It’s been a good start to the season for many clubs around the province. Bowls is back and clubs have opened up and welcomed their members in with friendly opening day tournaments and have a ‘go’ days. There are encouraging signs from clubs in terms of membership. Vogeltown have 8 new members on the back of their opening day, while Lepperton have a number of new members. Some clubs are still waiting on opening their greens, and fair enough too, it’s been pretty wet this week, and it’s predicted to be a long, sunny, dry summer. We look forward to seeing our new bowlers around the greens.

We have 5 new Major Tournament sponsors for the upcoming season. Welcome on board to Metcalfe Real Estate South Taranaki, Summerset Pohutukawa, MiLife New Plymouth, Darth Funeral Services Stratford, and Suunto Sports Watches. We look forward to working with you throughout the season.

Our Open Fours Tournaments are once again proving very popular, and it looks like it will be a bumper number of teams with over 100 entries from around the country received so far, and we are only a handful of weeks into the season. Among the teams entered are 8 teams returning from Australia. We look forward to hosting them, and showing them the hospitality that Taranaki is well known for. Many teams have asked for accommodation, and there is a shortage of accommodation in New Plymouth, so please, if you or anyone you know is willing to let out their home, please be in touch with the Centre Office.

Planning is well under way for the Representative Teams. Allan Batley and Don Christensen have been appointed as Selectors and we wish them well alongside their management team. The Under 8’s Trial will be held at Stratford-Avon soon, with more information below and the first Rep. fixture is in November against Whanganui. We thank Kiwi Gaming Foundation for their support.

Taranaki Coaches are putting on a session of coaching for all bowlers at Vogeltown Bowling Club on Monday 26th September. All welcome to attend. Session stars at 1pm.

In youth bowls news, schools and secondary school kids are being encouraged to participate in programmes for schoolkids around Taranaki. In Term 4, there will be after school bowls and in Term 1 2023, a have a ‘go’ day is being organised with the help of Sport Taranaki and TSSSA. More details to follow. For those kids who want to take it the next level, there is potential for them to represent Taranaki against Whanganui in a proposed Under 18 match. More details to come.

Under 8s Rep Trial

The following players have been asked to attend a trial for Under 8s at Stratford-Avon.

Venue: Stratford-Avon Bowling Club
Date: Sunday 9th October
Time: 9.00am – 12.00pm  (some players will be asked to continue play after lunch from 12.30pm – 2.30pm)
Dress: Club Colours please.
Lunch: Available to purchase from club.
Contact: If unavailable for the Men’s please contact Allan Batley (027 372 2715) or John Garrud (027 751 3427)
If unavailable for the Women’s please contact Don Christensen (021 127 6163) or John Sexton  (027 338 6280)

Men: Bruce Colgan (W/E) Iain Parker (S/Avon) Kevin Archer (Pari) Jimmy Haupapa (Wai) Kurt Smith (Oakura) Hohepa Murray (Vol) Daryl McKenzie(Op) J Peters(M) Evan Jones (Fitz) Doug Clarke (M) Len Spick (Ing) Fred Quilter(Lep) Cory Brooks (W/E) Luca Dobson (H/P) Jimmy Quay (Ok) Mike Baldwin (Pari) Levi Davis (Op) Grant Crawshaw (T) J Peters (W/E) Michael Mathews (NP) Steve Sabine (ING) Steve Temperton (W/E) Simon Rowe (Fitz) Terry Hancock (W/E) Rob Clark (M) Peter Vink (PARI) Peter Van Dyke (Ing) Graham Kelly (S/Avon) Nigel Berry (H/P) Brian Pearce (S/A) Neil Watson (Pari) Lindsay Franklin (S/A)

Women: Paritutu;  B Atkinson; T Atkinson-Watt; S Baldwin; A Crehan; S Feek; J Gledhill.
Tower;  A Rowlands;
Waitara;  K Gower; N Jane; M Malcolm; G Wolfe.
New Plymouth;  H Chitty; L Agnew.
Opunake;  R Davey; E Campbell-Ward; J Hemahema; K Wallace; A Woods; D Chapman; S Oliver.
Manaia;    D Scown; S Clark; J Fox; I Taunt.
Lepperton;  T Quilter; D Heaven.
Fitzroy;     J Crawford; L File; L Te Awa.
Stratford-Avon;  J Ravji; S Taylor; K Bond.
Inglewood;  S Davis; J Forbes; G Burrows.
West End;  M Lister.
Okato;  A Niwa; L Kape; A Quay; A Megaw.

Please Note: This does not mean you have been selected or not selected for this seasons Junior Rep squad. Junior players are encouraged to enter Open Centre Events, Junior Interclub, Hugh Moss and Junior Bowls3five. Good performances throughout the season will be noticed by the selectors. Some players were unavailable or are already known to the selectors. Good luck to those attending.

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Coaching Day

The Bowls Taranaki Coaches Association is putting on a session this Monday! They are inviting players to an afternoon coaching clinic to be held at Vogeltown Bowling Club. The session will be focused on game play, reading of the head and the laws of the game. Player’s questions, technical assistance and video analysis will be available. Don’t forget Monday is a public holiday, so come on down and enjoy the greens at Vogeltown.

Date: Monday 26th September, 2023 (public holiday) from 1:00pm until 4:30pm approximately

Venue: Vogeltown Bowling Club

Cost of $5 per player.

Selectors Announced

Bowls Taranaki are pleased to announce the Selectors for the Revital Fertilisers Men’s and Women’s Representative Teams in 2022-23.

For the Men, Allan Batley has been appointed and for the Women, Don Christensen has been appointed. Marty Jordan will assist with the management of the Men’s Team, while John Sexton will be involved with the Women’s Team. We wish the appointee’s all the best for the upcoming season.

Bowls Taranaki have a busy schedule of Representative Tournaments for the year, kicking off with our annual fixture against Whanganui. Following that is the Octagonal Tournament in February featuring Wellington, Wairarapa, Kapiti, Hawkes Bay, Manawatu, Gisborne-East Coast, Whanganui and Taranaki. This tournament will be hosted in New Plymouth, so we can all come and show our support for the team!

At the same time our talented junior bowlers, will be featuring against their rivals in the Hexagonal Tournament, usually held in Whanganui, it will be hosted this year by Bowls Kapiti. With many talented junior bowlers, we have high hopes they can return as winners!

This all leads towards the National Intercentre in March 2023. To be held in Christchurch, it is expected our team’s will continue their good results and progress from the last few years and represent Taranaki with pride. With many promising players in the Women’s and Men’s teams and many seasoned ‘pros’ it promises to be an exciting year ahead.

Press Release – Bowls Taranaki.

Home Coming for New Executive Officer

It is a home coming for new Bowls Taranaki Executive Officer Ian Lewis.

Lewis has this week commenced employment with Bowls Taranaki and the former bowls champion himself is itching to get involved in the game once again.

Lewis followed his brother, Stephen, into bowls, when in 2007 he joined Paritutu, the very location where the Executive Officer for Bowls Taranaki is based. However, his tenure there was short as he and his now wife, Kim, headed off for a working holiday to the United Kingdom.

When they returned in 2010 it was to Palmerston North, where Ian found his whites once again. He joined the Palmerston North club, claimed a couple of junior centre titles and was the Manawatu centre secretary for two seasons.

Kim’s job as a radiographer took them to Opononi, where Ian’s bowls excelled. In addition to serving on the local club’s committee and having stints as secretary and treasurer, Ian amassed an impressive nine senior Far North centre titles and a gold star.

Kim’s work brought the family – which now includes Katie and Jessica, who are both at primary school – back to their New Plymouth base in 2019.

While Ian has been able to continue his art– he holds a Bachelor of Visual Arts – time is a bit more precious these days. Sadly, that has meant not playing bowls.

But the new role will satisfy a lot of the passion that Ian has for the sport.

“Growing up in Taranaki I was obviously aware of the importance of bowls to the community. And having started my own bowls whilst still living here, I fully understand the importance of the role and of Bowls Taranaki,” Ian said.

“I’m excited by the future and am looking to make a positive difference to the game here.”

New Bowls Taranaki Board Elected

The Annual General Meeting for Bowls Taranaki was held recently in Stratford. A new president was voted in with Grant Hassall taking over the role, vice president this term will be Eric Foreman. Returning board members are Robert Wolfe, Kevin Gray and Chris Commane with Val McEldowney and David Brunton joining the team. The board would like to wish everyone good luck for the upcoming season.