Club Members, Special Events

The Meat Axe Tournament

Temperatures in the high 80’s were predicted for Palo Alto on this sunny September morn. So, rise with the sun we thought. Get there early and get the feel of the green. Well, some of us did any way. We pulled into the parking lot by the Gamble House and parked at 8:30 – a bit too early.

Gradually, the clubhouse came to life and we all enjoyed the bagels with lox and tomatoes. Fresh fruit, coffee and OJ; yum! Thank you, Bonnie, for all the hard work.

A few practice bowls gave everyone a feel for the green. It was fast so we Berkeley bowlers would have to turn down the power a little to get full control of our shots. And then, the bell tolled. Front and center, bowlers. First, the Pledge of Allegiance, then it’s time to draw a chip and report to your rink to face the challenge.

In my case, a familiar face stood ready with his team. Eleven other skips faced a similar situation. They and their teams were ready. It was on, this 56th annual match for possession of the Meat Axe. At the end of the first round of six matches, Palo Alto had won four matches to our two. Lunch!

Anxious to proceed, I started rolling a few practice bowls and the afternoon match began. But, alas, it wasn’t to be. Palo Alto repeated the morning’s performance and the day ended with them winning eight of the twelve games. So, we needed to pass the Meat Axe back to the other side once again.

Congratulations, Palo Alto; well played. See you next year on our turf. What fun!
Palo Alto Takes the Axe And we take home the consolation prize.Reluctantly Geoff Accepts the Plaque

Events

Member Bill Flounders hosts brunch

Long time BLBC member Bill Flounders and his new wife, Claudia Smukler, celebrated their post wedding brunch at the BLBC on Monday, July 1st.

About 40 guests attended and enjoyed modest breakfast items from Ann’s Catering. To make the event a bit spashier, Bill hired a mobile Espresso cart to set up on the patio. Special thanks to Dave Rockhold, Ann Gardiner and Jim Corr for coming out to coach. With their assistance, four rinks were active all morning and more than 20 out-of-towners were introduced to Lawn Bowling.

Thanks to all from newlyweds, Bill & Claudia. And to Bill and Claudia from all of us at BLBC, congratulations!

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Club Members, Tournaments

Frankie Napoli Wins Two Bowl Singles

There was a little mist in the air when fourteen souls showed up this morning for the annual two-bowls singles tournament. Tournament director Gary Knox arranged for three preliminary twelve end matches to find the top four bowlers for more bowling after lunch. In the end, it was Phil Grattan facing Frankie Napoli in the final match. At the tenth end, victory was out of reach and Phil resigned the match. Congratulations, Frankie on your second tournament win of the 2013 season.

Thanks to Gary for another well run event and to Ann Gardiner for the snacks.

The final tournament of the year will be for our novices in another singles event.

Tournaments

2013 Triples Winner

Twelve hearty souls and a backup appeared this morning in a light mist, anxious to bowl in this year’s Mixed Draw Triples tournament. A few familiar faces were missing, but the cast of characters was replete with good bowlers. The format this year was a round-robin with each team playing each other team. The winner was determined by either game points or, in the event of a tie, by the outcome of the match between the teams in the tie. That, for the record, is how it turned out; the team led by Skip Phil Grattan was victorious having beaten the team led by skip Dave Rockhold 9-7 in a tight game decided on the final bowl of the match.

The teams were:

Phil Grattan
Ann Gardiner
Cris Benton (Novice)

Dave Rockhold
Cathy Dinnean
Ted Crum

Howard Mackey
John Hooper
Luo

Shawn Roney
Millard Long
Gary Knox

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Nikki Schrager Wins US Playdowns Women’s Singles

This weekend, Berkeley BLBC member, Nikki Schrager, won the qualification round (“Playdowns”) to represent the Pacific-Inter Mountain Division (PIMD) at the 2013 US National Championships. This is the second year in a row that Berkeley will provide a PIMD representative at the Nationals, following the success of Jonathan Burnoski last year who went on to win the Men’s Singles title, at age 19 the youngest-ever bowler to do so. Jonathan’s father, Tom, also played in the 2012 nationals, as part of the Men’s Pairs team. To qualify, Nikki had to overcome Angie Peet of Sunnyvale in a Sunday tie-breaker, each having won an equal number of games the day before. Sweet revenge, since Angie had actually defeated Nikki in the Saturday round of play.

Nikki will face bowlers from each of the other Bowls USA divisions at the finals in Santa Anita over the period October 16-20. The format will be a round-robin of seven games over four days, a tough and grueling set-up, especially if there should be a late Southern California heat wave.

We all wish Nikki every success!

Special Events

Leisure Town-Berkeley @ Berkeley

Those fantastic folks from Vacaville came to town on July 10th intent on giving our Berkeley bowlers another lesson in humility. But we Berkeley bowlers were in the mood for a change. With four rinks going, Berkeley was up 5 games to 3 after two twelve-end games in the morning. Two additional games were planned for the afternoon, but after the first game, commute considerations for LT canceled the last game. Nonetheless, Berkeley won two of the four afternoon games and tied another to come out on top 15 game points to 9.

In the small world department, two of the LT bowlers were stationed in my home town of Salina, Kansas at Smoky Hill AFB. I was probably out cutting wheat in the shadow of the plane flown by pilot Dick Ruddy.

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2103 Pairs Results

Sixteen souls gathered on the green on the morning of June 21 to participate in the annual pairs tournament. The format again this year was a ranked draw wherein bowlers chose their position and the random draw was then held to permanently pair bowlers for the day.

After three twelve end games, two teams had won all three games. Those two, skip Phil Grattan with lead Harry Gans and skip Frankie Napoli with lead Wilfred Wong, met in a single-game final on the 23rd.

The game started at 2:30 in a light mist. The teams decided to play 14 ends which they all agreed had been Gary’s revised plan (rather than 18). Frankie and Wilford wore whites. Phil and Harry opted to be more casual. Perhaps the green appreciated the nod to tradition. Team Frankie and Wilfred won the game, 15 to 11. All four players made some great shots. John Hooper and Ann Gardiner showed up to watch the game, so there was a crowd of two in the cheering section.

Congratulations Frankie and Wilfred!!!

Tournaments

Four bowl singles results

Another stellar day of bowling at BLBC! Fourteen bowlers showed up all bright-eyed and bushy-tailed on Saturday for the annual in-house singles tournament. This year’s format was fairly simple, everyone bowled three games to 15 points. When the dust settled, four bowlers had accumulated the best record for the day. Ann Gardiner, Shawn Roney, Howard Mackey, and Jim Corr, were ‘in it to win it’.

The four decided to finish their semi final matches on the same day even though they had to option of scheduling it another day. I suppose busy lives trumped feeling tired from a long day of bowls.

After the two semi final 18-point matches, Jim Corr and Shawn Roney advanced to the 21 point final game which was played on May 22nd. The game lasted nearly two hours. Jim Corr was off to a slow start, but steadily gained on Shawn. In the 27th end with the sun just about to set, Jim scored the winning point; 21 to 18 being the final score. Congratulations to everyone who participated in the tournament.

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It’s been a good week for Berkeley bowlers

John Luster and Shawn Roney won the Men’s Pairs, Cathy Dinnean and Ann Gardiner placed third in the Women’s Pairs, and Nikki Schrager and Phil Grattan placed fourth (in the money) in the Mixed Pairs. In addition, Cathy, and Ann, along with Sarah Allday placed fifth in the Women’s Triples – a notable achievement given that two of them are still novices.

Congratulations, everyone!!

Club Members, Special Events

BLBC Honors Howard & Barbara Mackey

The Board of the BLBC voted unanimously earlier this month to revive the Club’s Distinguished Service Award to honor Howard and Barbara Mackey, husband and wife team who have given twenty years of commitment to the Club in a wide range of activities. Barbara, who passed away last December, had served on the Board of the Club in various capacities over the years, had achieved national umpire status, and was an assiduous “social secretary,” working regularly to decorate the clubhouse and lay on a welcoming spread for many tournaments and club social activities. She was also an informal coach to new bowlers, especially, but by no means exclusively, to new women bowlers. Howard has served as President, has been greenskeeper, remains Inter-club Tournament Director organizing popular events like the Berkeley Jamboree and other tournaments on the PIMD calendar, and is one of the Club’s representatives on the PIMD Committee. He is also currently the Club’s Singles Champion! Club President Jim Corr presented the award to Howard at the PIMD Mixed Pairs Tournament held at the Club on May 10, 2013.
Award

From all of us at Berkeley Lawn Bowling, a giant THANK YOU!

We promote the game of lawn bowling for the enjoyment of new and experienced players alike.