NTS 18 Squad announcement

Tenpin Bowling Australia (TBA) is pleased to unveil the athletes selected in the 2022 NTS 18 squad.

NTS 18 takes over from the previously named TBA Junior National Training Squad and will continue to be a team for athletes aged 18 years and under.

The unveiling of the NTS 18 concludes TBA’s 2022 National Training Squad selections after the NTS 21, NTS Open, and NTS 50 teams were announced earlier this week.

NTS 18 Head Coach Shane Bernhardt, who has been involved with the team for the past five years, is excited by the quality of athletes in the squad.

“We have had some really strong squads, and I think we have been able to select a strong squad once again,” he said. “I am not only excited by the quality of athletes, but I am also excited by the quality of people in our squad, they are all good people.”

With international competition set to return in 2022 – bearing the confirmation of events – after almost two years of being unable to compete abroad, it is an exciting time. 

One of the biggest tournaments for the NTS 18 will be the 21st Asian Junior Tenpin Bowling Championships, currently scheduled for mid-August 2022.

While the rollout of the NTS program for the squad has been affected by the pandemic, Bernhardt says that they’ve embraced new ways to interact with athletes.

“COVID-19 has affected the rollout of the program significantly over the last two years, we have however continued to have regular interaction with the squad through Zoom educational catch-ups,” he explained.

Bernhardt also hinted that although the squad of 16-athletes, eight girls and eight boys, has been announced, there are still opportunities for those outside the squad to make an impression.

“We have got eyes on other athletes outside the squad that may not have had the opportunity to bowl all that much over the last two years, and we will be watching their performances closely in early 2022,” he said.

Earlier in the week, TBA detailed the changes to its High-Performance program from 2022 onwards through the release of NTS Evolution which will help Australia become a world-class tenpin bowling nation. Click here to read more.

Please find the full squad list for the NTS 18 below.

NTS 18 Female Team

• Jessica Canfield
• Samantha Clifton
• Emma Blunden
• Emily Hart
• Shanae Key
• Katy Melton
• Tamika Pettigrew
• Bianca Shima

NTS 18 Male Team

• Ryan Chi
• Cooper Hillyer
• Tarkyn Percy
• Blake Walsh
• Trent McDougall
• Nicholas Rajkovic
• Liam Cochrane
• Jackson Buckingham

NTS 18 Team Officials

• Shane Bernhardt – Head Coach
• Bianca Flanagan – Assistant Coach
• Simon Pearce – Assistant Coach
• Jamie Taafe – Team Manager
• Diedre Taafe – Team Manager