2022-2023 Bowls Update
SOCIAL BOWLS
It was great to see the support we had for Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve Bowls. Hope you all had fun! It was good to relax with mates and friends after bowls, share a round….or two to finish off the 2022 year.
New members, Kim & Michael Huntsman dressed for the occasion during our Xmas Eve Bowls.
MEN’S 3 BOWL TRIPLES
We’re starting the year with Men’s 3 Bowl Triples on Monday 6th February. Entries are online or on the sheet at the club. Team numbers are limited to 28 so get in early. Check details below:
AUSTRALIA DAY BOWLS
Australia Day falls on Thursday 26th Jan 2023. We’ll have a game of rotating triples on that day with prizes for the best dressed. Australia versus the rest of the world. Open to anyone that wants to celebrate Australia Day with a game of bowls. Entry is via the link below or on the sheet located at the club.
2022-2023 CLUB CHAMPIONSHIPS
Over the last 6 months of 2022 we were able to complete our:
- Major & Minor Fours
- Major & Minor Triples.
- Major & Minor Pairs
- Mixed Fours
- Senior Singles.
Congratulations to our Champions and of course to our Runners Up. It’s always good to make that final.
Major Pairs Finalists Dan Ellem & Matt Grogan (R/U) and Gregg Stevens & Geoff Turner (W)
Minor Pairs Finalists – Mark Schodde & Paul Fitzpatrick (W) and Len Townsend & Judith Mitrevski (R/U)
Below is a list of the results so far. All results can be found on the championship page on our website.
Our Major and Minor Singles commenced the first weekend of January 2023. Well done to our winners so far. We’re down to the Rounds of 16 in both events. Follow the links below for the results over the weekend.
With only 2 greens available, some of these championship events will impact on the available green space on a Saturday afternoon.
We always do our best to get everyone a game.
Our Mixed Pairs, Major/Minor Pairs and Senior Pairs are closing soon and will commence early February 2023. Entires are online or on the sheets at the club. Follow the link above for access to the club championship page.
2022-2023 SOUTH PACIFIC CARNIVAL
Well done to everyone who took part in the South Pacific Carnival over the last few days. Our appreciation goes out to our Match Committee members Jim, Joyce & Geoff for their assistance with running the sections at Windang. Thank you to our umpires Dave & Al for giving up your time after Christmas. It was great to see a few bowlers from Windang get through their sections as well. Congratulations to the composite team of Paul Rooke and Gregg Stevens, making it to the Semi Final of the Open Pairs discipline. For Windang, it was a fantastic start to the 2023 season with our own Judith Mitrevski & Daniel Doyle taking out the South Pacific Mixed Pairs title. A very hard game, played in difficult conditions with Judith and Daniel winning the last few ends to bring the trophy to Windang. All South Pacific results can be found on the Illawarra Zone 16 website.
Congratulations to all!
2022-2023 South Pacific Mixed Pairs Champions – Daniel Doyle & Judith Mitrevski.
AMALGAMATION OF OUR MEN’S AND WOMEN’S BOWLING CLUBS
Well, it appears the financial side of the amalgamation has been completed. I have a meeting tomorrow with President Gregg Stephenson, Women’s President Helen Miller, and Women’s Secretary Kaye Taylor to discuss several aspects of the bowls organisation. I.E.
- By-Laws.
- How the bowls organisation will be structured.
- Roles and responsibilities.
- Membership
This is our initial meeting and there’s obviously a lot more to consider, and I’m sure there will be items that will need to be addressed along the way. We’ll deal with them in due course. Our aim for this amalgamation is to make Windang Bowling Club the best at running bowls in the Illawarra, where all bowling members, regardless of gender can enjoy the game we all love to play……or sometimes love to hate, depending on which side of the scoreboard your on!
I’ll keep you posted with updates on our website as we go through this process and if you have any concerns, queries or ideas, please let us know.
Our 2022-2023 Mixed Fours Finalists.
2023 OPEN PENNANTS
The open pennant season is almost upon us. Commencing on Saturday 25th February. Our appreciation goes out to our bowlers who have indicated their interest in playing pennants. We’ll have 7 grades in total.
G1, G3, G4, G5, G6, G7A & G7B
Grade 1 draw has already been published. Grades 2-7 draws should be out soon. Once the draws are published, our selectors will get together for several meetings to finalise the teams.
Please ensure you indicate what rounds you are unavailable on the sheets at the club. They include all the post sectional rounds plus spare rounds, Zone Pennant final days and State Pennant Final days.
It helps the selectors immensely, and helps to avoid constantly moving players around, if they know you are not available prior to selecting the team.
A reminder that this is classed as open pennants, so the divisions you played in during the single gender pennants do not apply. Any member who does not have a previous open pennant grading will be ungraded at the start of the competition. You will receive an open pennant grading once you have participated in the required number of open pennant rounds.
Pennant season, every year is always a difficult time for selectors. This year with the introduction of open pennants and an extra 30+ female pennant bowlers will be a testing time for our selectors. I’ll take on an advisory role and also ensure we all adhere to our Selection Policy and to the Conditions of Play. Our 4 selectors will certainly do their utmost for the club and it’s members with regards to the teams.
Team Selection is the selectors domain only – everything else is just opinion.
As a pennant player the best advice I can give you is:
- Let the selectors do their job.
- Accept your role.
- Know your role.
- Play your role.
2022 – Windang Grade 7 Finalists
HERE’S TO 2023!
On behalf of our Bowls Committees I’d like to thank everyone for their support over the years. Our Bowls Committees, Umpires & Selectors, thank you for the time you dedicate to our club. Thank you to our hard working Staff and Management, and thank you to our Board of Directors for taking a leap of faith with me. The last few years have been difficult but it seems we’ve come out on the other side, with bigger and better days to come.
Here’s to a safe and prosperous 2023 for everyone and their families. Good luck to our bowlers as I’m sure 2023 will be filled with success. We’ve already started…..thanks to Judith & Daniel!
Thank you all……Cheers Dave.
PS. Hope you enjoy the pics from New Years Eve below.
