Nominations are invited for Centre President/Vice President and if anyone wishes to become a Board Member of Bowls Taranaki. Application forms are available through the Centre Office and have been sent to all clubs. Nominations must be received by the Centre Office before the 1st of May.
Lawn Bowls
TCM Champion of Champion events are about to start with the Fours and Singles starting on the 13th and 14th of April. Here are the players and teams registered for the upcoming events.
Champion of Champions Fours – Paritutu (Men and Women)
Champion of Champions Singles – West End (Men and Women)
Champion of Champion Junior Singles Inglewood (Men) & West End (Women)
Champion of Champions Triples – Okato (Men) & Opunake (Women)
Champion of Champion Pairs – Manaia (Men) & Hawera Park (Women)
If your club still needs to register an entry, or requires a substitute, please be in contact with the Centre Office on 027 757 8800 or via email.
Draws for the Champion of Champions Fours will be released on Monday of next week, and for the Singles, draws will be released on the Friday before the event starts, so as to ensure a fair draw for all players in case of players requiring to pull out due to injury/illness.
Grant Hassall
Paritutu will look to top off their centennial celebrations when the club competes in the New Zealand interclub finals in Auckland.
The event, for both men and women, brings the provincial winners to compete for the big prize, which has twice been won by Paritutu women and once by Paritutu men. It starts on Friday.
The women’s side will fancy its chances of advancing through its section. A top two finish is required and with only five in its pool, Paritutu look a strong prospect. They will compete against co-favourites Carlton Cornwall, along with Havelock North, Blenheim and Waimate.
Briar Atkinson plays the pairs, with Amanda Crehan and Bridget Fletcher the pair. The four is Alesha Quay, Tina Atkinson-Watt, Barbara Harvey and skip Gale Fache, with Jackie Moeahu the eighth player.
The chances of the men advancing appear less likely although there is certainly enough talent to do so. They are in what appears to be an even group with all of the teams comprising a number of representative players.
Paritutu will meet Ngongotaha, Taieri, Timaru’s West End, Naenae and Thames Coast.
Dean Elgar plays the singles, with Adam Collins leading in the pairs for Darren Goodin. Aidan Zittersteijn skips the four with his father John leading. Kurt Smith and Camron Horo complete a competitive unit.
Meanwhile, Paritutu’s centenary celebrations over Easter weekend were well received by all of those in attendance, including the dinner on Saturday night where Grant Nisbett and John McBeth kept the guests well entertained.
The men’s and women’s one-day events on Saturday, while somewhat disappointing in numbers, produced some exciting results.
The women’s section was won by four of Paritutu’s 14 female gold star holders – Marlene Barrowman, Heather Johns, Barbara Batley and skip Cathy Andrews.
Second went to Fache, from Val Keightley and Anne Duggan.
There was a boilover in the men’s event, where overall honours went to a Paritutu team of James Carter, Eddie Betts, Trevor Knowsley and Paul Howell.
Howell continued his excellent touch, following his recent open triples triumph, but it was a big moment for the other three – and a just reward.
Retired lawyer Knowsley is a midweek selector, Betts authored Paritutu’s centennial publication, while the loveable Carter, nigh on 90 years, has for many years been the epitome of participation.
Noel Probyn, Maurice Symes and Elgar shared the minor placings on Howell’s green.
The other men’s green was won by Steve Muller, from Brian Baldwin – back from the Gold Coast with Gary Mounsey for the event – Bowls NZ president Piripi Huwyler and Kevin Crawford.
Fache took out the main prize in Sunday’s mixed drawn fours, combining with Heather White, Allan Sanger and Trevor Keightley.
The other prizes went to teams skipped by Rodger Hassall, John Honeyfield, Andrews, Baldwin and Gloria Shaw.
by Grant Hassall
Briar Atkinson is now officially rated the best under-21 bowler in the country.
The Paritutu player won the national age-grade title, in mixed company, at the Naenae greens in Hutt Valley on Sunday.
It follows a spectacular last 12 months, with many distinctions including the NZ women’s champion-of-champions singles in July.
But just as the case was in her Taranaki Open singles triumph earlier in the month, Atkinson had to grind out victories. It showed a clear ability, again, to win tight, important matches – an excellent attribute for any champion sportsperson.
In the final, Atkinson defeated Canterbury’s Braeden Casware 21-17. After an even opening, Casware edged in front 13-11 and then 17-15. Atkinson dominated the scoring after that, finishing with two braces and two singles to claim the title. It was Casware’s first loss of the weekend, having won his prior six matches.
Atkinson beat Wellington’s Jordan Keene 21-19 in the semifinals and Auckland’s Lee Warburton 21-17 in the prior round.
Rahotu’s Nathan Goodin claimed a bronze medal. He was edged out 21-20 by Casware in the semifinals.
Earlier, in section play, Goodin qualified second from his pool, after four wins from five games. Atkinson, who was also in the same section, lost to both Keene and Goodin, before turning the tables in post section.
Meanwhile the richest bowls event in the province was won by a Fitzroy quartet at the weekend.
The annual Waitoa Beer-sponsored Tower 10,000 proved popular once more with a capacity 32 teams taking part.
The winning team was Lesley Te Awa, Maree Gadsby, Ron Gadsby and Grant Pease. West End’s Garry Murfitt was second with Tower’s Grant Anderson third.
It was Pease’s second big win in Hawera during the week. On Wednesday, at Hawera Park, a composite side of Pease, John Gray, Paul Matheson and Bryce Robins, representing the Coronation Hotel in Eltham, won the three-day north island Licence Victualers Association tournament.
Courtesy of Sports News Taranaki: https://sportsnewstaranaki.co.nz/news-article?id=1685
The draw is available online for post section for the Hugh Moss Pairs. Please note due to the number of qualifiers, we will be using two greens at Okato and Oakura. Please check the draw for tomorrrows play.
Will Johnston
One of the region’s largest bowling clubs is inviting registrations to commemorate its 100th jubilee.
New Plymouth’s Paritutu Bowling Club will mark this significant milestone over Easter Weekend this year. The schedule includes a mixture of social and bowling events across the Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.
A centenary dinner is scheduled for Saturday night, featuring broadcasters and guest speakers John McBeth and Grant Nisbett. Nisbett is a familiar face at the Taranaki Open, while McBeth has commentated at numerous bowling events, including World Championships and Commonwealth Games.
Centenary committee member Trevor Keightley said registration can be completed in various ways.
“Individuals can pick up a registration form at the club, or find all the details on our website,” he said.
Much has evolved at the Calvert Road site since its inception in 1924. Discussions about drink prices dominated committee meetings in earlier years. In 1968, cigarettes and soft drinks were priced at 30 cents and five cents, respectively. Two years later, soft drinks increased to 10 cents, with a three-cent refund on bottles.
Further deliberations occurred in 1973 and 1977, with the price of a cup of tea set at 15 cents during weekdays and 20 cents at other times.
One of the most noticeable transformations was the expansion of the clubrooms and the development of the indoor stadium, completed in April 1997. This addition has proven invaluable for the club and its governing body, Bowls Taranaki, often serving as a venue for major events impacted by wet weather.
The club stands as a premier venue for the men’s and women’s Taranaki Open, and it’s one of many Taranaki clubs set to host the upcoming Dominion Fours event organized by Bowls New Zealand.
Keightley remarked that hosting such significant tournaments outside major centers is rare, but the club has demonstrated its ability to manage large events.
“The Nationals will be no different from the Open.”
In another significant move for the club, the men’s and ladies’ clubs merged in the 2008/09 season.
Paritutu has enjoyed its share of success over the years, including a recent victory in January when its quartet of Don Christensen, Rodger Hassall, Dean Elgar, and skip Darren Goodin claimed the title at the 119th Taranaki men’s Open fours, fittingly held at their home club.
Pihama and Manaia bowling clubs are also set to celebrate their 125th jubilees this year.
Pihama will host a tournament on Saturday, May 4, while Manaia will hold a men’s fours event on Taranaki Anniversary weekend, with the ladies’ event on Saturday, April 15.
Keightley emphasised the importance of collaborating with other clubs to prevent scheduling conflicts during their respective celebrations.
Courtesy of Sports News Taranaki: https://sportsnewstaranaki.co.nz/news-article?id=1655
Congratulations to the following players who have been picked to represent Taranaki at the National Intercentre Finals.
Women:
Singles: Briar Atkinson
Pairs: Alethea Rowlands, Chris Commane (sk)
Fours: Lesley Te Awa, Tina Atkinson-Watt, Jackie Moeahu, Gale Fache (sk)
Selector: Don Christensen
Men:
Singles: Darren Goodin
Pairs: Aidan Zittersteijn, Dean Elgar (sk)
Fours: Bruce Colgan, Kurt Smith, Steve Walker, Craig De Faria (sk)
Selector: John Garrud, Manager: Bruce Hall
*Hamish Kape was not considered for selection
Good luck to all.
Mike Walsh is the greenkeeper at Paritutu Bowling Club which will be the headquarters for the New Zealand championships for fours and mixed pairs from Thursday.
LISA BURD/STUFF
Every morning 80-year-old Mike Walsh hops on his bike and cycles 100 metres down the road to his second home, Paritutu Bowling Club.
Walsh is the New Plymouth-based club’s greenkeeper, a role he takes seriously, arriving at 6.30am each day.
“I watch all the games, I watch the people, I don’t like people ripping our green up with their shoes.
“I’ve made people change their shoes.”
Keeping the greens in tip-top shape is a job Mike Walsh takes seriously.
LISA BURD/STUFF
It’s been a busy month for Walsh as the club hosted the Taranaki Open Fours tournament in January and will be home to the National Fours and Mixed Pairs tournament starting Thursday.
It takes 2000 steps to mow the green and Walsh aims to have it at a speed of 17 seconds, which means it takes the ball 17 seconds to get from one side to the other.
Walsh, who won the Taranaki Open tournament with his team in 1993, waters the greens every night for 3 minutes, then the sprinklers are set for 12 minutes at 1am as that’s the coldest time of the night, and he fertilises them every three weeks.
“People see the green but don’t see the time that goes into it.”
The greens are normally mown three times a week, but come tournament time, they’re done every day.
Some days Mike Walsh is on the job until 10pm.
LISA BURD/STUFF
“We take a lot of pride in our greens and I’ve got 180 members to answer to.”
Walsh, who has no lawn of his own at home, said Paritutu Bowling Club is considered one of the best greens in the country.
His first stint at the club was in the 1990s. He then came back upon returning from Australia twelve years ago.
“The greens were shocking. The chap that was doing them asked for a hand and I said ‘as long as you do it my way’.”
Walsh has stepped back somewhat this year after having open heart surgery, but he still oversees everything the other keepers do, calling himself the greens superintendent.
LISA BURD/STUFF
Mike Walsh is a bowler himself and his team won the Taranaki Open tournament in 1993.
The time Walsh spends maintaining the green sees him there until 10pm some days.
When asked if he had a partner who may object to this kind of dedication away from home, Walsh proudly declared he’d been married for 61 years.
“She understands my commitment down here, she’s a bowler herself,” he said.
“The other greens she goes to aren’t up to the same standard, but not many are up to this standard.”
Article courtesy of www.stuff.co.nz – https://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/350187241/paritutus-walsh-master-art-greenkeeping by Stephanie Ockhuysen, February 22, 2024
If you’ve only been around a short while in the sport of bowls (and a ‘short while’ can mean anything less than 20 years in lawn bowls!), you’d be forgiven for never having heard of ‘Kittyhawks’ … or even having any idea what ‘Kittyhawks’ are … other than perhaps a fan club of a veteran World War 2 aircraft or fanciers of a special falcon bird.
The Kittyhawk Bowling Club is a very informal bowls grouping that sits outside the conventional Club-Centre-National bowls hierarchy … like the Eagles Golfing Society does in golf or the Queen Street Cricket Club does in cricket or the Barbarians Rugby Club does in rugby.
It was formed back in 1977/1978 to promote the game of bowls, particularly among young people, and to raise money for charitable causes (in particular the Halberg Trust).
It was, and is, an invitation-only club, limited to 120 members, who characteristically are well-known for having given much to the sport of bowls over the years …. and are shamelessly willing to squeeze the wallets and Apple Pays of the well-healed, at the same time zealously and passionately encouraging bowls in the younger.
They are ‘worthy’ people. And ‘Kittyhawks’ may seem a secretive society, but it’s not. At bowls gatherings, members may be called to pop up from their seats like whack-a-moles at a carnival arcade. That may seem strange, but they are rarely feted. So when it happens, please applaud them for their wonderful efforts.
Unfortunately, after many years of running the Kittyhawk Under 21 Singles (a breeding ground for our young Blackjacks) the tournament stopped in 2018. For no particular reason … it became just like many other bowling tournaments that have waxed and waned over the years throughout the country …and the waxing was now replaced with waning.
Until 2024.
Brady Amer, the enthusiast behind youth bowls in the Wellington Centre, and a past participant in the Kittyhawks tourney from 2013 to 2017, decided that it was time for Kittyhawks to return.
“We approached the club about kickstarting the tournament, and they were of course thrilled. So earlier this year, we held the tournament at Naenae with a field of 28 Under 21 bowlers … the youngest was 13 and the oldest scraped in under the 21 year old cut.”
“It was a great re-start,” adds Brady. “So good that we’re already planning the tournament again next year at Naenae … but probably moving it to Easter when it was traditionally held.”
The tournament will once again be ‘mixed’, which is the way it first started in 1992. It was ‘separated’ in 2002, and separate boys’ and girls’ trophies handed out to the winners. But in a nod to our trending genderless sport, the former boys’ trophy is now handed out to the overall winner, and the girl’s trophy given over to best girl. It’s an acknowledgement of this transitional period of providing positive reinforcement to gender equality.
“Girls are often intimidated by the boys,” observes Brady. “I’m not saying ALL girls … I can think of some who that wouldn’t even begin to apply to … but we’ve found that most girls play more freely with other girls.”
“Back in the day, the tournament used to attract entries from 40 boys and 32 girls. What’s more, the winners received $1,000 prize money, a set of bowls, and the opportunity to play with a Blackjack. We want to get back to that sort of level of recognition.”
For this years’ winners : Camron Horo from Rahotu Bowling Club in Taranaki (overall winner) and Hannah Dawson from Pakuranga Bowling Club in Auckland (girls’ winner), the spoils were a little more modest : a trophy, a set of Taylor bowls and bowls bag, and of course, the prestige of winning.
And all participants enjoyed the food provided by Nulook Kapiti.
Who knows what could happen next year … particularly with a fired-up Brady Amer leading the charge.
Keep up the good work, Brady. And of course, the Kittyhawk Bowling Club.
Courtesy of Bowls New Zealand.
We wish our Revital Fertilisers Taranaki Representative teams all the best this weekend as they take on our frinedly rivals from the Lower North Island.
Follow the results with Bowls Whanganui and Bowls Wellington providing results.
Senior Men and Women: Results
Junior Men: Results
Junior Women: Results
Play starts Friday for the Seniors and Saturday for the Juniors. Good luck to all involved.