BQ youthAwards

2012 StateChamps

Future starNick Gosley makes mark in junior champs

Apr-May 2012

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Contributions:

Are there any juniors going places at your club?

Have a big under-18 event coming up that you would like featured?

Any other junior related action happening in your area?

Send us any junior related news so we can give your club a shout-out.

Contact details

Email: qldbowler@bowlsqld.org

Twitter Account: @bowlsqld

Official Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/juniorbowlermag

Phone: (07) 3355 9988

School visits near you

Our promo van is making plenty of school visitsthis year. Is your school getting its roll on?For all the latest information on school visits, goto the juniors tab on the Bowls QLD website,http://www.bowlsqld.org

Follow the bowls tweeters

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Queensland’s future stars

Burnett Junior-Senior Day

We recommend which bowls worldtweeters you should be following

New talent rising in Junior States.

60 Seconds

with Shrek

Name: Rohan WilsonAge:17 Nickname: TatsPlace of Birth: Southport, Gold CoastSchool: Upper Coomera State CollegeSiblings: three sisters - Gemma, April and SelinaPets: Two canaries- would be willing to give them awayDream job: Manager of the Brisbane LionsFavourite playing position: Anywhere, as long as I get pickedYears playing bowls: eight yearsFirst club: CanungraCurrent club: HelensvaleBowls used: Size 4 henselite Dreamline XGsBiggest influence: My dad, YowieMost memorable bowls moment: Winning the 2012Premier League title with HelensvaleMost embarrassing bowls moment: Losing to my sister,AprilSporting hero: Ben CousinsFavourite band: Simple PlanCelebrity crush: Katy PerryFavourite food: Anything – I love food.Greatest fear: SnakesDream holiday destination: ParisFavourite thing to do outside of bowls: Hang out at thebeach and spend time with my family.Three things you could take if stranded on a desertisland: A footy, my girlfriend,, Madi and plenty of food.

All the results from a big day of bowls

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Australia’s young guns claimed a dominant Trans-Tasman win.

Queenslanders Rohan Wilson and Sean Ingham didtheir bit for the side to wrap up the under-18 series inthe opening two tests.

Ingham’s excellent run of form following on from hisjunior Australian Open win carried all the way throughhis matches, with each a resounding victory.

He had a dominant opening match against EuanWong, which he won 21-11.

The second test match proved the first was no fluke,with an 11-shot victory over Monte Pawa.

The final match completed his whitewash but it wasby far the most challenging of his victories.

Ingham withstood an incredible challenge from Wong,who was keen for revenge after the first round loss, toprevail by only one shot, in his 21-20 win.

Wilson suffered a narrow loss to Monte Pawa, goingdown by a heartbreaking two shots, 19-21.

He redeemed himself in the second test, though, de-feating Wong 21-18.

His third test rubber, against Pawa again, fell in hisopponents favour, with Wilson defeated 18-21.

The Gold Coast boys proved a formidable combi-nation in their pairs rubbers, starting with an 18-14 toopen their campaign.

The Kiwis hit back in the second test and got painfullyclose, eventually being dismissed by the Aussies, 16-15.

After dominating in the first two tests, the green andgold bowlers could have been forgiven for taken theirfeet off the throttle.

However, their intensity lifted with an emphatic 13-shot victory in the final pairs match.

Ingham said the Invercargill greens suited theAussies.

“The greens were a lot like the ones at home. We’dbeen to Auckland last year and the greens there werea bit different. The invercargill greens were a lot betterfor us,” Ingham said.

Victoria’s Chloe Stewart and South Australian ReneeMcPharlin were flying the flag for the junior femalebowlers and the girls dropped only one match, a 5-shotloss for Stewart against Tayla Bruce.

Lauren Wilson and Sean Ingham won the 2011 YoungBowler of the Year awards.

Wilson and Ingham were two of Queensland’s stand outbowlers in 2011 and both recently came away with statejunior championship trophies in their final year of competition.

Wilson and Ingham were members of the 2011 Queenslandunder-18 team.

Wilson won a silver medal in the junior national singles titleslast year as well as gold in the triples competition.

These performances earned her a spot in the Australianjunior development squad, alongside teammate BoliviaMillerick.

Wilson was also the youngest member in the StatePennants finals last year, playing for runners-up TweedHeads.

Wilson beat out Natasha Jones for the 2011 BQ award.

The 18-year-old was especially pleased to win the awardknowing the talent of other girls around her age.

“With the twins (Cassandra and Bolivia Millerick) and Tash,it was a really anyone’s. It’s really good to get the recognitionfor all my hard work,” she said.

With her junior career done and dusted, Wilson’s focus hasturned to the upcoming District Sides and StateChampionships.

“I have been training really hard for opens so my goal is todo well at the District Sides and States and also hopefullyget picked in the Under-25s.”

She may be ready for opens, but Wilson will miss playingin the junior ranks.

“I love my junior bowls. It’s fun because you get to play withfriends and people around your own age,” she said.

Her fellow Gold Coaster, Ingham also had a stellar 2011.After narrowly missing out on a back-to-back paris title in thejunior nationals, Ingham made the Australian under-18 de-velopment squad.

Along with Rohan Wilson, Ingham was selected to rep-resent Australia in the recent trans-Tasman series, which theAussies wrapped up convincingly.

Wilson was the other finalist in the boys’ young bowler ofthe year award and was a close second to Ingham.

The Broadbeach was surprised to win the award for thesecond year in a row.

“I was pretty pleased. I thought Rohan would get it actually,because he ‘s been playing more than me in the last year.

Ingham said the award was a great way to cap off a goodtwelve months of bowls.

“Yeah I think it reflected my results… I was hoping to get itagain,” he said.

This is the final year of juniors for Ingham, who is keen tomake the step up to men’s competition.

Both Ingham and Wilson won gold in the recent State JuniorChampionships.

Gold Coast kids grab

BQ Under-18 Awards

Queensland boys win

Trans-Tasman series

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Connie-Leigh Rixon capped off a great start to 2012,winning the under-15 girls singles titles at the StateChampionships.

Rixon overcame both of the 2011 finalists on her way tothe trophy.

She relegated Brittany Wiley to a second consecutivesilver medal in as many years with a dominant 25-5 winin the final.

Rixon overcame 2011 champion Taleah Putney in thesemi-final,25-13.

Beenleigh’s Nick Gosley made his mark in last month’sjunior Sate Championships.

The 14 year old came away with golds in both the under-15 boys singles and the under-15 open pairs.

Gosley beat Justin Cribbins in the final, which was thefirst in five years not won by one of the Leese.

Both of the Leeses have moved out of the under-15competition now, meaning Braidan could not compete fora fourth consecutive crown.

Gosley’s win came on the back of his inclusion in the2012 Queensland under-18 squad.

Gosley teamed up with Liam Jackson to take out theunder-15 pairs in a battles of the sexes.

Up Against Taleah Putney and Tiffany Murray, the boyshad their work cut out for them but snuck away with a one-shot 17-16 win.

The pairs competition was changed to a combined eventthis year to increase the size of the tournament.

The open competition was dominated by BoliviaMillerick.

Millerick won three out of the four titles on offer for herage group, missing out only on the fours title.

Millerick is in her final junior year and capped off an in-credibly 12 months, which saw her included in theAustralian junior development squad.

Millerick’s twin sister, Cass, wasn’t far behind, winningthe pairs and triples gold.

In the open boys, Rohan Wilson was the most dominantplayer.

Wilson won the pairs with Aussie junior teammate SeanIngham as well as the fours with Kyle Franks and Braidanand Joel Leese.

Wilson narrowly missed out on the singles title, whichwent to newcomer Lochie Rowden.

Wilson won the award for boy bowler of the tournament.

He will be hoping to use 2012 to lay a foundation for histransition to adult bowls, in his final year as an under-18Queensland representative.

QLD’s new winners

There were two new champions in the2012 under-15 divisions of the JuniorState Championships.

Connie-Leigh Rixon (above) and Nick Gosley

were the big under-15 winners in the champs.

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Bribie Island’s Natasha Jones is Queensland’s triplesprincess, having won four out of the last five junior statetitles.

Jones nabbed her first triples title in 2008, with sister Zoeand current Queensland under-25 player, CharlieHarkness.

She went back-to-back in 2009, again with Zoe as wellas Lauren Ingham.

After missing out in 2010, Jones teamed up with goodfriends Cassandra and Bolivia Millerick for a second set ofback-to-back titles in 2011 and 2012.

Jones said there was no real secret to her intimidatingrecord in the team discipline.

“Not really any particular reason. Playing with two othergirls, it’s more fun,” Jones said.

“It helps because we all know each other’s game be-cause we play together and train together.”

With the Millericks ineligible for the 2013 Championships,Jones has wasted no time in forming a new combination,with Ricki-Lee Kemp and April Wilson.

At a representative level, Jones hopes the recent ele-vation of Lauren Wilson to the Under-25 squad will giveher more opportunities in singles.

“I’ll be focusing on the singles and trying to get in morecompetitions … I will hopefully get more of a chance tohave a go in other disciplines.”

This year’s state champi-onships proved a successfulswansong for a golden gen-eration of Queenslandjuniors.

Of the eight disciplines con-tested, three were won bybowlers in their last year ofeligibility and all but two ofthe rest had a majority ofmembers in their final juniorstates.

Bolivia Millerick was thebest of those in their farewelljunior year, taking home thesingles, pairs and triples.

Her twin sister, Cassandrawas close behind, havingteamed up together in thepairs and triples.

Madi Styles, JessicaParolin and Lauren Wilsonalso took home gold in theirfinal state junior outing aspart of the championshipfours side.

Departing champions

Fourth triples crown

for Natasha Jones

The open State Championships are the next major focusfor the 16-year-old, who is entering the singles andteaming up with the Millericks in the triples.

Jones has confidence that she and the Millericks canchallenge in the team event and will be boosted by theirexperience as a combination and their Premier Leaguestints.

“I reckon we’ll go well because we have stepped up.”

Wilson felt her results didnot reflect the standard thatshe played at through herfinal junior tournament.

“I felt like I played somereally good bowls, but I justdidn’t get the return that Iwanted,” Wilson said.

“I think in the singles I hadto win by six but I only did itby five and so I missed outon the finals. But I washappy with the level of bowlsI produced.”

Natasha Jones (triples) andJamie O’Brien (fours) are theonly two girls’ championswho will be able to fly the flagfor their sides next year.

In the boys, AustralianTrans-Tasman representa-tives, Rohan Wilson andSean Ingham said goodbyeto the juniors with a win inthe pairs.

Wilson also came a close

second in the singles to Lochie Rowden, who will miss outon eligibility for the 2013 championships by only five days.

Wilson also grabbed the title in the fours, with fellow grad-uates Joel Leese and Kyle Franks as well as Joel’s brother,Braidan.

The boys’ triples are the only team event with moremembers available for next year, with Nathan Carpenter andBraidan Leese still eligible.

Ingham was slightly disappointed with his final state juniorchamps.

“I would have liked the results to be better. I was happy withmy pairs, obviously, but thought I could have done better inthe other disciplines.”

Many of QLD”s 2011 junior side have played

their last state titles

Jones at the 2011 Junior National Championships

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And the winners are

...

Clockwise from above: Bolivia Millerick; Lauren Wilson,Madi Styles, Jessica Parolin and Jamie O’Brien; SeanIngham and Rohan Wilson; Bolivia and Cass Millerick;Nick Gosley and Liam Jackson; The Millericks andNatasha Jones; Connie-Leigh Rixon; Nick Gosley;Rohan Wilson, Kyle Franks, Braidan and Joel Leese;Mitchell Jackson, Nathan Carpenter, Braidan Leese;Lochie Rowden

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The Week in Pictures:

2012 Junior State

Championships

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Last month I wrote about the impor-

tance of a pre-delivery routine.

This month, I want to look at a crucial

element of bowls: Preparation.

If you do not prepare for events in the

best way possible, you cannot expect

to succeed.

Preparation has a number of elements

but I want to focus on four of them.

Preparation of the mind

Mental preparation is all about devel-

oping focus before and during compe-

tition.

How you choose to prepare your mind

for a match is completely up to you.

Some players listen to inspirational

music some prefer to sit quietly and

alone, while other athletes are ener-

getic and sociable.

All players should be aware of which

preparation suits them best and allows

the to perform at their peak. If you don’t

know how what level of activity and ex-

citement works for you, you should sit

down with your coach and talk it

through.

Before a competition begins, focus on

the roles and responsibilities required

for the upcoming competition for the

team and yourself.

You choose the way you prepare for

competition, however you must be

ready for the competition prior to the

start of the match.

Mind preparation equips you with the

skills you need to switch between fo-

cusing on a shot and relaxing in be-

tween bowls.

Too many players distract themselves

by focusing on what they expect to

happen between shots, putting them

under excess pressure.

If you make sure that you are focusing

the most when you begin your pre-de-

livery routine a bowl, you will be far

more likely to play a good line and

length.

Concentrating on positive outcomes isanother way to stop negative thoughtsand emotions popping into your head.

Make sure you stay in the presentwhen you are bowling, focusing only onthe delivery in front of you, not the finalresult.

Thinking about past or future resultswill cloud your mind and compromiseyour delivery.

A big part of staying in the present isnot being distracted by external condi-tions.

Players with a strong mindset do notworry about uncontrollable circum-stances such as poor weather condi-tions, the green, wind, or bad luck in agame.

Instead, you should back yourself toovercome these conditions.

Players who have faith in their abilitiesand that of their teammates are farmore likely to get a win.

Always be preparedBill CornehlsCurrent Queenslandcoach and Australianrepresentative bowler

Proper preparation is the mainingredient in the recipe for yourcompetitive bowling successes.

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Think back to the good matches youhave played.

More than likely you will rememberbeing relaxed, enthusiastic and con-fident.

Now, think back to when you werehaving a bad match. You probablybegan to think about what was goingwrong and lacked confidence in anyshot played. The more you think aboutthe negatives you will basically tellyourself you are not going to play well.

You should work to stay relaxed, en-thusiastic, in the present and enjoyyourself in games.

This will give you every opportunity toperform to your ability.

You, are the only one who can choosewhat affects you in a match and if youlet the small things affect your game,you cannot play at your best.

Preparation on the green

Preparation on the green is all aboutdoing the extra work in training.

Players who expect to simply turn upand bowl well will not do as well asthose willing to put in the maximumeffort.

The more times you perform skill-training drills the better you become atthat drill.

The drills are set to help you becomemore consistent in a game.

Your training should be harder thancompetition so when you do play amatch it becomes easier to executeskills.

While training on the green must behard, it is about quality not quantity.

Quality training is short and sharp butmost importantly it should be chal-lenging.

More frequent training will leave youbored and will not challenge you.

The way you train on the green willcome into the way you play the gameon match day.

The purpose of practice / training is torepeat an action to improve skills. Usingthis principle will require repetition, rep-etition and repetition to enhance the de-velopment of each of the skills essentialto play bowls.

Your training habits and attitude atpractice will also determine whetheryou are training correctly.

Training the incorrect way or even

training the correct way but with in-correct technique can enhance faults.

Over the long term, all this does ismake bad habits harder to get rid of.

Entrenched faults are incredibly dif-ficult to correct and can have a detri-mental effect on your game. Trainingwith these faults makes harder to im-prove your game, which minimizes youropportunity to maximize your results.

You should acquire a coach so youcan have all parts of your techniquemonitored.

This will assist in accomplishing aquality delivery every time a bowl isplayed.

To achieve consistent results youmust have a reliable set up and de-livery, as I discussed last month.Whether you are trying to draw to thescoring zone, play conversion shots, ordrive; each shot must be trained until itis embedded in your memory.

Setting benchmarks ensures con-tinued adjustments to achieve your setgoal.

Maintaining your practice once bench-marks are reached creates routines andwill assist to reduce errors. Rememberto train so that you maintain yourstrengths and improve on your weak-nesses.

Other training skills such as drawingto the ditch, the boundary line or po-sition bowls, are just as important asdrawing to the jack.

To improve in these areas, ask acoach to watch you execute theseskills.

When working on a certain part ofyour game, the best way to do this is byexecuting a specific skill drill on a rinkby yourself.

While rolling up with teammates isokay, it will not allow you to tailor thedrill to your individual aims.

Athletes with a solid training programhave the confidence to do well, whichbreeds competitive success.

Preparation of the body

It is important to have some form ofphysical fitness so your body or mindcan handle the workload of matchesand competitions.

You don’t have to be fit enough to runa marathon but even a moderate fitnesslevel would help to have a performbetter, both physically and mentally

over a longer period of time.

When you feel tired late in a day of

competition, your concentration begins

to lapse.

As well as staying fit, healthy eating

and sleeping well will help you maintain

your energy levels in a competition.

You should also drink water regularly

to avoid dehydration, and have snacks

during the game to avoid fatigue.

Preparation of equipment:

Equipment preparation has a wide

scope and it serves as a way to ensure

that things run smoothly in a match.

Part of this comes from the reas-

surance that everything is within reach

and ready to use should a circumstance

require it.

You need to take pride in your uniform

and represent yourself, club, district

and state with honour when wearing the

uniform.

Prepare your bowls and bowls bag for

any situation that may arise during com-

petition.

These items include clothing for any

weather (rain jacket), bowls cloths, sun-

screen, measure, pen and spare pen,

chalk or spray chalk, drink, snacks or

anything else you feel essential in your

bag.

Make sure your uniform and bowls

shoes are clean and tidy. Your bowls

are clean, polished and any ditch marks

from missed drives are cleaned off.

Don’t forget important courtesies, like

ensuring your phone is switched off

during play.

A ringing phone is majorly off putting

if it occurs during a crucial delivery.

While a lot of these things may seem

insignificant, they are just as important

as every other aspect of preparation.

It is your duty to have your equipment

ready in your bag for competition that is

required for the position you are playing

in the side.

Finally, when you turn up for compe-

tition, turn up ready for action.

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Follow these

bowls tweetersEach issue we recommend some bowlingtweeters to add to your tweets for you to followso you can keep up with the world of bowls andconnect with those in the know.

The Australian lawn bowls captain and one of the best

bowlers this country has ever seen.

A;leady a Commonwealth Games gold medallist and World

Champion, Armitage was one of the inaugural inductees into

the Bowls Australia Hall of Fame.

Barrie Lester is a former international bowler and

Commonwealth Games bronze medallist who know works

for Bowls Australia in their development team . You can

find him on BA TV during major events and competitions.

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Lynsey is a frequent tweeter and her tweets give everyone

an insight in to the life of an elite bowler. You can follow all

of the action going on with the Australian bowls team, with

her 140 characters worth of insight into their training camps

and competitions.

Why follow him: Who:

Why follow her:Who:

Barrie does not just tweet about bowls. He regularly com-ments on current affairs and pop culture and you will fre-quently find a pearl of wisdom on his twitter profile. So, if youneed a bit of inspiration on a day when you are feeling down,Barrie is the bowls tweeter for you.

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One club that really took ad-vantage of the opportunity topromote the sport was SarinaBowls Club.

The men’s and ladies’ presi-dents, Ian and Elaine Virgen ofSarina organised visits to sixlocal primary schools to furtherthe promotion of bowls in theirarea.

Club representatives assistedme throughout my trip, acting asphotographers and organisingfollow-up visits for the schools.The first cab off the rank wasSwayneville State School, with30 kids ready to have a crack atbowls.

I was surprised by how enthu-siastic the kids were to get on themat and start bowling.

The next visit to Chelona onlyinvolved yr 6 and 7 students be-cause of Anzac Day interrup-tions, but still 20 kids participatedin the bowls activities.

After a quick lunch break, wetravelled to Koumala and had anunprecedented number of 50kids involved from yr 4 up.

Koumala’s principal was so im-pressed by the program that heis currently involved in talks withSarina to establish a partnershipbetween the club and the schoolto get more kids on the green.

ANZAC Day was a welcome

rest and Sarina hosted a socialgame day, involving more than70 people.

It was back on the road on April26, with Oakenden andHomebush Schools the first toget a visit.

We had ver 35 kids were in-volved in this activity.

The last day of visits was inSarina School Hall, with anaction-packed day involvingmore than 130 students, in-volving six rounds of 40-minutesessions.

The experience really made mesee how Queensland is able toproduce so much sporting talent.The kids were so enthusiastic,asking how they could play fortheir state and their country andfor advice on how to get started.

A special thanks must go toSarina Bowls Club for their in-valuable support during myvisits, which will hopefully help toincrease youth participation.

Hopefully some of these kidswill pursue bowls and turn up atmajor events such as the AllSchools Cup and Junior StateChampionships.

For more information on howyou can get involved or on anyupcoming events, ring the BQDevelopment Team on (07) 33559988.

The BQ promo van has had some incredibly successful visits recently. Development officer, StevenTong, took the van to Mackay clubs and schools last month. Here are the highlights from his travels.

Tongy gives Mackay kids some bowling tips

Tongy shows children the basics of lawn bowls at

Swayneville (above) and Koumala State Schools.

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Burnett Bowls Club had their 65th annualJunior-Senior Carnival on May 6.

With the greens running extremely wellthe day was set for fantastic bowls.

Taking out the Open section was fatherand son team of John and Paul Kajewskifrom Burnett.

Allan and Blake Wason from Urangangrabbed second place.

Third was Jenette Wilson (Gin Gin) andBolivia Millerick (Burnett) and BrendanHarris and Warick Bellert from Gayndahcame fourth.

Rounding out the top five were TinaWallace and Tiffany Murray from MiriamVale.

In the Under-14 sections, Ashley Harrisand Taleah Putney grabbed the top crown,with Keith Sinclair and Brinly Cottlecoming second.

Third were Bill McCurley and GiorgiaMelham-Mackay with Daphne McCrackenand Jack Davies (Burnett) and Del Baxterand Samantha Kelly completing the topfive.

This event is one of the biggest onBurnett’s calendar and this year is com-bined with the 65th anniversary celebra-tions for the club.

Since the competition began in 2007,junior co-ordinator Des Kemp said it hadgrown significantly.

Over the time it has been run, the com-petition has strengthened the relationshipbetween junior and senior bowlers fromBurnett and other clubs.

“When I first started this competition, theseniors were very hesitant to play with thejuniors and now they’re always puttingtheir hand up,” he said.

-Nambour’s first Junior-Senior day went offwithout a hitch on theLabour Day longweekend.As part of a larger seriesof Sunny Coast junior-senior days, 12 teamslined up at the club for theday of competition.Madison Wright andRichard Meacle were thewinners on the day, with apoints margin of +33 afterthree rounds of games.

Event organiser IanHazell was happy with theway the day unfolded.“All the players had agood time and enjoyedthe game. But more im-portantly, they learnt andreceived a lot ofknowledge from thesenior players,” Hazellsaid.Nambour coach, BrianFlux, said the event wouldbe expanded in futureyears.

Sunshine Coast clubshave been working to-gether to try and establisha larger event for theplayers.“We are happy that this isoff the ground now. Ourultimate goal is to helpmore juniors get games.“While some do get toplay regularly, we want togive juniors more opportu-nities to play in competi-tions and become moreinvolved,” Flux said.

Participation numberswere limited a little be-cause of a clash withBurnett’s junior-senior dayon the same weekend.More open discussion be-tween districts will hope-fully mean that this clashis avoided in the future,Flux said.Flux hopes the success ofthe Buderim andNambour events will becontinued as the seriesgoes on.

Great start for Nambour Junior-Senior day

Burnett bowlers take out milestone event

Above: Ken Geary, Paul and John Kajewski, from Burnett

Below: Geary, Taleah Putney and Ashley Harris (Gayndah)

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Burnett Bowls Club Bundaberg

Junior Section with Sponsors

Present the 2012

Junior Lawn Bowls Pairs & Singles Classic

24th,25th, 26th,& 27th June

Total Prize Money $4,000.00

2 Age Groups

Under 14 & 14 - 18For any enquiries ph Des on 4153 4240

Or email burnettjuniorbowlers@hotmail.com

http://www.burnettbowls.com.au/