Wednesday September 6th 2023
Written by Neil Briggs, Midlothian under 18 Bowling Team Manager
Midlothian under 18 bowling team travelled through to Ayr on Sunday to the greens at the national bowling centre at Northfield. They were competing in the Andy Houston county championship. This was the first year for a long time that Midlothian has had an u18 team so who knew what was about to happen.
The team consisted of 13 players making up 3 rinks of 4 players and a reserve. All players would play their part on the day.
They had 5 games to play against teams from all over Scotland. They got off to a good start with a 4-2 win over Central West and then a 5-1 win over district 2 from the Highlands in the second game. Then came Edinburgh in the 3rd game and that ended in a 3-3 draw.
Break for lunch and they were sitting top of the table. Some great bowls being played by the team not many mistakes being made the 3 skips Jack Roan and Macauley leading and guiding their rinks very well.
After the break they played Ayrshire who were sitting second in the table and managed to come away with a 4-2 win after the captain Jack Bisset played a phenomenal last bowl to snatch a 4-2 win that got the travelling Midlothian parents out of their seats.
Last game against the vastly more experienced team from East Lothian. Who required a 6-0 win to pip Midlothian to the trophy. Well Midlothian managed to hang on in there and with one of the Midlothian rinks skipped by Macauley Crichton with Kane Walker, Kaitlyn Rodger and Blaine McFarlane held their nerve to secure a one shot victory on the last end the trophy was secured and Midlothian crowned the well deserved winners.
This team was assembled in April this year and to achieve something of this magnitude so early in their journey is absolutely incredible, the character shown from this group of youngsters has been nothing short of amazing. It is becoming increasingly difficult to attract kids to bowls as the sport still has a reputation of being “an old man’s game” however we hope with this victory we can encourage kids (and their parents) to approach their local club and get involved in our amazing sport.
Junior coaching starts again over the winter at Midlothian indoor bowling stadium in Dalkeith every Friday 4 – 6pm so come along for and try the game. Coaching begins Friday 6th October.
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