The sport’s future on display
The sport’s brightest young stars are about to take centre stage, with the 2017 Australian Under-18 Championships commencing tomorrow at Taren Point Bowling Club. The sport’s brightest young stars are about to take centre stage, with the 2017 Australian Under-18 Championships commencing tomorrow.
NSW’s Taren Point Bowls Club will play host to the four-day event, which features 68 of the country’s most promising junior bowlers representing their state or territory.
Five boys and five girls from each state and territory, with the exception of ACT, Western Australia and Northern Territory, will compete, with eight sessions of matches staged over the four days.
In the girls’ event, ACT will field one singles player, while WA and NT have combined to form a mixed team across all disciplines.
In the boys’ field, the Top Enders will play for points in the singles and pairs disciplines, but will be joined by emerging NSW talent in the triples and fours.
Players will contest two disciplines, across boys’ and girls’ singles, pairs, triples and fours.
The event will commence with one session on Friday at 3.30pm, followed by two sessions on Saturday, a further three sessions on Sunday, and medal play-offs scheduled for two sessions on Monday.
Section one of the boys’ features Victoria, Northern Territory (singles and pairs) / Bye (triples and fours), Queensland and Western Australia, while section two includes NSW, Tasmania, ACT and South Australia.
In the girls’, section one includes Victoria, Queensland, Western Australia / Northern Territory and a Bye, while section two features NSW, Tasmania, ACT (singles) / Bye (pairs, triples and fours) and South Australia.
Teams that have a bye will play a scratch match against an Emerging NSW or NSW/NT team; who are not eligible to receive match points.
Over the years, the sport’s only junior event has been a proving ground for some of the sport’s finest players, including Australian Jackaroos captain Lynsey Clarke and a host of world champions.
In more recent years, the young brigade of current Jackaroos, including Aaron Teys, Ellen Ryan, Corey Wedlock, Kristina Krstic, Aaron Wilson, Bolivia Millerick and Chloe Stewart all cut their teeth at the tournament.
The full schedule and team lists can be viewed in the event program book here.
