Thursday, June 18, 2009

Exams Over

After a pretty busy week of bowls I had my last exam today. I kept writing until the end which is usually a good sign. I fit some study in during the last week. I also played about 200 sit and go's online & played in three bowls events.

At Warilla I was pretty much was outplayed on the indoor. In the PBA singles Geoff McGillvray beat me a couple of times, one of which was close and went to a tie breaker. Jeremy Henry & Geoff again beat myself and David Holt. Both played awesome.

On the weekend we completed our Zone 10 play off which we managed to win through. It wasn't without a struggle as we lost our second game to Rosehill. It all came down to who ever won between Toongabbie and Merrylands and luckily our team fired on the Sunday morning. We got off to a good start and at one stage Zel Trbara's rink and Andrew Waddell's rink were both on 20 shots whilst Toonie were stuck on 2 or 3 a piece. Peter Stockham's rink led against Mick Harry most of the way but it was pretty close. In the end we won all three and we are now off to Warilla for the State play offs.

I am officially on holidays now, but still have a NSW Institute of Sport camp coming up and a bowls tournament tomorrow at Club Merrylands.

In poker I played in a couple of home games. In Pyrmont there was a Star City dealers game which was fun to play in. I had to wait a while to get on and a mate decided to just go to Star City to play. Since the dealers at the casino can not play poker at the casino they just create there own game! The guy whose place it was dealt, provided food and drink, and only took a small commission/rake.

Tuesday, June 2, 2009

They've got Private Lawns & Public Parks

I think we are very fortunate in Australia to have access to an amazing array of public sporting facilities for next to nothing. Our lifestlye is complimented by virtually free access to sporting and cultural facilities throughout all of our cities and regional centres.

There are thousands of Bowling Clubs all over Australia and you only need to be a member of one Club to access them all. The ABS listed sports with the highest frequency rates (attended six or more times) and the top two sports were lawn bowls (57.6% of attendees) and netball (41.9%).

In other countries access is quite limited or scarce and therefore much more expensive. In New Zealand the club houses are cosy and friendly. In Hong Kong the clubs are private and squashed in. Australia seems much more open. The wide landscapes and the bright sunshine are sometimes tested by the harsh winds and bursts of rain. I really enjoy travelling around and making use of the diverse facilities and competing in the great tournaments that are available.

This weekend we have our Zone 10 playoff. The four teams from our Holroyd area are Club Merrylands, Wentworthville Leagues, Rosehill & Toongabbie. We have a strange system that is not as equitable as the first past the post system. After 9 rounds of regular competition the top four teams now play a sectional playoff to decide who goes to the state championships. One good weekend and the winning team goes through.

Tomorrow the NSW Professional Bowls Association (PBA) state qualifing event begins at Warilla on the indoor. This now goes for 2 days with four seperate singles events. Everything seems to be trimmed down now. Instead of a pairs events they will be just combining singles events winners to go over to the UK. There also may be a reduction in money provided for flights, accomodation and spending due to some sponsorship losses.

The event will still feature a great line up and the nominated players so far are; Gerard Beath, Ray Pearce, Steve McGuiness, David Holt, Geffory McGilvary, Shaun Parnis, Bernie Melvile, Jesse McKenzie, Jesse Noronha, John Aldersley, Steve Glasson, Gary Pearson, Charles Phillips, Lindsay McIntyre, Paul Guilfoyle, Alan Fawcett, Carl Healey, Jeremy Henry & Wayne Toomey. Pretty solid.