Newport Indoor Bowls Club was the venue for the BIIBC Under 18 Mixed Championships for 2010. Players from England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland and the Channel Islands arrived at the Stadium for a practice session on the evening before the Internationals and found the blue carpet was running well and the bowls were taking a good line back to the jack.

England won the Trophy when the event was first played at the Jim Baker Stadium in Northern Ireland in 2009 and having chosen the 12 players to represent their Country from the 70 nominations, hope was high for the players to regain the Trophy. Of the 12 players needed England chose 6 girls and 6 boys although there was no rule to say this should be done, but the England Selectors found that at the game at Donyngs, where selection took place, the standard of the boys and the girls was extremely high and chose the 12 best players. England had 2 teams, as had Scotland and Wales, but the Channel Isles and Ireland just had the 1 team.

The Opening Ceremony took place when each of the Countries marched on to the green to the tune of their country following which the President of the BIIBC and the President of the Club declared the Championships open.

Each of the teams comprised 5 players who had to take part in 4 disciplines, the Singles, Pairs, Triples and Fours, all of which were played in sets, on the Saturday and the morning of Sunday. The Pairs and Triples were played at the quarter-final stage on Saturday morning at 9.45am, the semi-finals at 11.45am and the final at 2.45pm. After a short break the players took to the green at 5.00pm to play the Singles and the Fours. It was an intense competitive format but the bowling of all the youngsters from all the Countries was excellent. On the Sunday morning the semi-final of the Singles and the Rinks was played, followed at 11.30am with the final. All the players took part in the finals playing for Winner and Runner-up naturally, but also for the 3rd and 4th place, the 5th and 6th place and for the 7th and 8th place, so everyone played their part scoring as many shots as they could which would go towards the final counting of the points to determine the overall winner of the Trophy.

England won the overall Trophy beating Scotland into second place and members of each of our two teams received a medal. Adam Clark from the Isle of Wight took the Gold Medal for winning the Singles but each one of the players in the two teams received either a Gold. Silver or Bronze medal.

The members of the England team impressed everyone by the way they conducted themselves both on and off the green and we can be assured that with the skill the Under 18 team showed on the green at Newport, the future of bowling is in safe hands.

For more information on the event click here  

Anita Haw
10th October 2010.