BOWL PATROL ANNUAL AWARDS – NSW and ACT
By Emily Rennes
More state and territory winners of the 2020 Bowl Patrol awards have now been announced. This week we land in New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory, with some Patroller bowlers in particular showing loads of promising talent!
2020 NSW Lane Ranger of the Year James Shewring has been a consistent Lane Ranger, he has expanded his knowledge and skills to run Bowl Abilities programs in 2020 as well. Despite suffering an extensive injury requiring surgery, this dedicated Lane Ranger made every session, doing everything he could to support the patrollers with the help of assistant Lane Rangers he proudly now trains. He is always supportive of participants, has consistent numbers in programs and works hard to promote and support the sport of bowling. His knowledge and experience allows him to help participants build on their skills with many Bowl Patrol graduates continuing to bowl after the program.
2020 NSW Centre of the Year SuperStrike Maitland centre manager, staff and Lane Rangers have been working very hard during 2020 and particularly post COVID, to get more Patrollers involved in Bowl Patrol. They have run programs in Term 1 and 4 this year, with a total number 37 participants in just 2 terms! They’re keen supporters of NSW Active Kids vouchers which enable up to two terms of Bowl Patrol for free – for every child in NSW. In Term 4, they successfully ran two Bowl Patrol programs with their first sell-out program; Wednesday afternoons maxed at 18 registered participants. In addition to this, they have trained up three new Lane Rangers to assist NSW Lane Ranger of the Year James Shewring.
2020 NSW Bowl Patroller (Girl) Scarlett Murphy always gave 110% during the Bowl Patrol program in Term 1 2020. Regardless of the outcomes she continued to come each week with a positive attitude. At the beginning of Bowl Patrol Scarlett was very shy and nervous, however as her bowling skills progressed she also become very social and outgoing in sessions which was great to see. Scarlett has come a long way through the program and progressing personally and in bowling. She leads the way for her brother, taking out this award in NSW too.
2020 NSW Bowl Patroller (Boy) Harrison Murphy always tried his hardest, started out very nervous and shy but by the end he had grown so much, he was enjoying making new bowling friends with the other Patrollers in Term 1 2020. With every single bowl Harrison had a giant smile on his face, regardless of the number of pins he knocked down, he was super proud of every bowl he did and was happy every minute he was at Bowl Patrol. Harrison has improved with his confidence over the program and the efforts he put in is why he is the NSW Patroller of the Year.
A little further south the Bowl Patrol program in ACT has also experienced new success in 2020, despite the challenges. The program has bounced back with junior bowling looking forward to joining a refreshed junior league in 2021.
2020 ACT Lane Ranger of the Year Damian McFarlane has come on board with Bowl Patrol in 2020 at ZONE Tuggeranong along with wife Irene and has been progressing leaps and bounds to build junior bowlers in the ACT. During COVID-19 lock down Damian not only completed our Online Lane Ranger Training, he also completed his Level 1 Coaching accreditation and is in the process of obtaining his Bronze Coaching accreditation. He recently received approval from ZONE Tuggeranong to start a junior league next year which will run alongside Bowl Patrol, in which they already have 3 graduates from Bowl Patrol joining.
2020 ACT Centre of the Year ZONE Tuggeranong ran programs in Term 1 and 4 this year with good participation numbers and many Patrollers graduating from Bowl Patrol. This centre understands the value in reaching out to families in their community, at a time when many other sports were unavailable, offering a sport-option that perfectly suits many kids. The Lane Rangers at this centre used time during COVID to upskill and obtain coaching qualifications to be able to further provide support to bowlers. Together the centre and Lane Rangers have decided to start a Junior League in the centre in 2021 to allow the pathway from Bowl Patrol to league an exciting journey for young bowlers.
2020 ACT Bowl Patroller (Boy) William Suchomski (ZONE Tuggeranong)was a return bowler from 2019, beginning Term 1 2020 on a yellow band and finishing on orange. Term 4 William was keen to go again, he progressed extensively to gain a black band by Session 5; ACT’s first black for the year. This has been achieved because he is the most attentive, asks questions on how to improve, really listens to the Lane Rangers, tries to understand the concepts and works them out on the lane practically, plus he really wants to do well. His bowling technique has developed to incorporate a reliable swing and he has worked hard on his accuracy and understanding of lane play.
Last week we worked on a Four Step Approach (Session 6) and after initial coaching and support he was able to feel comfortable with his footwork and swing, he felt really encouraged and proud that he could now bowl a full delivery, he achieved scores of 39 and 78 which were exceptional for introducing something new and bowling his two games.
These outcomes have been achieved so quickly as William has really taken an interest in Term 4 to understand bowling principles and fundamentals, follows guidance from both Lane Ranger Irene and Damian and can see after each session how much he really enjoys bowling. Although William has actually achieved the highest score of 84 and the first black band in the group (this has come as a surprise to him) he certainly meets all the required criteria for an exceptional Bowl Patroller who listens, learns and wants to continually improve every week.
There were no nominations for Patroller Girl, so we hope 2021 sees a few more girls getting in to Bowl Patrol at Tuggeranong. Congratulations to the winners in both NSW and ACT. Check out some of the other winners on tenpin.org.au’s News page or by searching ‘Bowl Patrol’.
