Champs join Black Jacks for Commonwealth Games

Lawn bowls has evolved significantly since Val Smith first stepped on the greens.

Val Smith is chasing Commonwealth Gold in Birmingham.
Photo: PHOTOSPORT

Smith has been selected for her fifth Commonwealth Games where she will bowl alongside Tayla Bruce and Nicole Toomey in the triple and Bruce, Selina Goddard and Toomey in the four.

Smith is a world champion and two-time medalist at the Commonwealth Games (silver in Delhi 2010, bronze in Glasgow 2014) and is looking to complete her medal set with a gold in Birmingham.

Singles player Katelyn Inch, Bruce and Goddard, all aged in their 20s, have experienced a Commonwealth Games in either 2014 or 2018 and for the other women’s player,Toomey, it will be at her first Games.

“I’ve seen all of these girls grow and develop in their sport but I’ve also seen them grow and develop as people as well it makes me feel very proud and privileged to be able to link up with them and play in something as big as the Commonwealth Games,” Smith said.

“I would like to think I help them relax because when you’re younger you think the world is going to end if you have a bad day but I hope I help them to relax and feel like it’s not a big deal because as long as you’re out there giving everything you’ve got, you’re going to have bad days, you’re going to have good days, it’s being able to manage those days and know that you’ve got good support around you and you don’t want that to effect how you go into the next day or the next game.”

Smith, 56, has more than 600 international appearances for New Zealand and has witnessed the women’s game become more aggressive – but finesse still plays a part.

“Women have developed their game as a an all-round complete player, you can draw to an inch but you can hit when you need to, you can kill ends, it’s definitely evolved it’s a lot more animated, there’s a lot more energy in the women’s game now.”

For all of the evolution, Smith believed some things should stay the same.

3×3 basketball and T20 cricket will debut at the Games in Birmingham, as organisers chase different audiences, but Smith doesn’t necessarily want lawn bowls following the same path of bringing the shorter format of the game – Bowls3Five – to the world stage.

For all the energy and colour Bowls3Five players bring, Smith can see a downside.

“They fire on adrenaline but may not be able to last the distance for 18 ends of a traditional game of bowls but it is exciting to have those different formats in the game.

“What the longer more traditional version does, as opposed to the 3Fives, is that the length eliminates the element of luck so I think that is a factor to consider for the shortened version.

“With the longer version the cream usually rises to the top.”

Auckland bowler Tony Grantham is another who is keen for lawn bowls to stick with tradition at the Commonwealth Games.

Grantham first attended the Games in 2014 and missed selection for the 2018 Games but after returning from major shoulder surgery is back in the pair with Shannon McIlroy and four with Ali Forsyth, and first-timers Mike Galloway and Andrew Kelly.

Despite being sidelined for a year rehabilitating his shoulder, Grantham found comfort in the bowls community who inspired him to get back in the game at the top level.

“I’d had the surgery done and I was a little down that I couldn’t play but I went to events, with my sling on of course, and went and supported them and I got this great vibe around my friends and they supported me supporting them and they gave me the belief to get back in.

“As soon as I was out of my sling I worked really hard in physiotherapy and did all my strength training and then got back into the greens and worked really hard and to be fair after being out for a year with all the work I put in it felt like my shoulder was back to 100 percent.”

The last time Grantham was at the Games it ended in disappointment – something he is determined to change next month.

“We’ve got some unfinished business to do, we were very unlucky in Glasgow in the quarterfinal of the triples where we lost on the last end by a fluke and that upset us a lot because we’d gone really good without losing a game that whole year and then coming into losing a game like that it was depressing and it hit us hard but I think we’ve got the confidence now to be able to do the job again.”

Black Jack Shannon McIlroy.
Photo: Photosport Ltd 2017 www.photosport.nz

World champion McIlroy will also compete in the singles. Meanwhile, Gerald Brouwers has been selected to replace Deane Robertson in the B2/B3 vision impaired discipline. He will compete alongside Sue Curran.

Brouwers has been training by taking a bus and a train to get to Rocky Nook Bowling Club four or five days a week.

Fiercely independent, he does not allow his lack of vision to define him. Having lost his sight a decade ago, he wanted to get back into playing sport as he had played rugby throughout his life and lawn bowls opened up a new world of opportunities for him.

“I’m excited, overjoyed and delighted, coming in as late replacement, I didn’t think this would happen so to get that call was pretty special, absolutely amazing. It’s been a dream to have the silver fern on my chest so I’m thrilled,” Brouwers said.

“We’re working as hard as we can with just a month to go and we’re really hoping to come away with a result.”

The New Zealand team are having to rely on another sport’s grounds to prepare for the Games.

Smith said the conditions in England were so different to New Zealand that any time they get on the Victoria Park greens ahead of the competition would be crucial.

If the United Kingdom got a long wet summer the bowl speeds could reduce significantly.

“We have to all our training on a croquet lawn to be able to emulate the speed of the green in the Northern Hemisphere, also the greens could be more unpredictable than New Zealand greens because they are more effected by the overhead conditions.”

Black Jacks for 2022 Commonwealth Games

Women’s Singles: Katelyn Inch

Women’s Pair: Katelyn Inch (S), Selina Goddard (L)

Women’s Triple: Val Smith (S), Tayla Bruce (2), Nicole Toomey (L)

Women’s Four: Val Smith (S), Tayla Bruce (3) Selina Goddard (2), Nicole Toomey (L)

Men’s Singles: Shannon McIlroy

Men’s Pair: Shannon McIlroy (S), Tony Grantham (L)

Men’s Triple: Ali Forsyth (S), Mike Galloway (2), Andrew Kelly (L)

Men’s Four: Ali Forsyth (S), Mike Galloway (3), Andrew Kelly (2), Tony Grantham (L)

(Reserves: Lance Pascoe and Chris Le Lievre)

These 10 athletes join the following Para Bowlers, confirmed for the Commonwealth Games earlier this year:

Women’s Para Pair (B5-B8): Pam Walker (S), Lynda Bennett (L)

Men’s Para Pair (B5-B8): Mark Noble (S), Graham Skellern (L)

Vision Impaired Pair (B2/B3): Sue Curran (S), Gerald Brouwers* (L) and their Directors Bronwyn Milne and Kevin Smith

*Gerald Brouwers has been selected to replace Deane Robertson in the B2/B3 vision impaired Mixed Pair discipline who was unable to achieve an appropriate classification.