All posts by Ann Brillhart

Club Members

2017 Opening Day

Sixteen BLBC members bowled at Opening Day at Rossmoor LBC: Cathy, Giulia, Laile, Sarah, Susan, Bob, Cris, Des, Erwin, Gordon, Jim, Phil, Ray, Rob, Shawn and yours truly.

As always, Rossmoor LBC did an outstanding job of supplying food, beverages, decorations and three lovely greens! Before bowling commenced there was a “spider” on each green. Three lucky bowlers would win a bottle of wine. This was a gift from our club to Rossmoor to help them celebrate their 50th year. I guess it was only fitting that all three winners belonged to Rossmoor LBC! (Cathy and Sarah wrangled greens one and three. I wrangled green two. FYI:  A bottle of wine for Cathy and me, and a six-pack of beer for Sarah as thanks for wrangling….:-)

Five BLBC members won money:  Sarah, Cris, Phil, Rob and Shawn. Congratulations! On the lighter side:  Giulia and Rob each won a flower and balloon centerpiece….one winner at each table. (Rob graciously gave his win to Ginger Harris. Nicely done!). On top of that, everyone was given a pin celebrating Rossmoor LBC’s 50th Anniversary.
The PIMD 2017 lawn bowling season has officially begun. Let’s hope our little club has another big year! 
Club Members

PIMD’s 2016 Closing Day

Over 90 bowlers from eight clubs celebrated PIMD’s Closing Day and PIMD’s 50th Anniversary at San Francisco Lawn Bowling Club. Berkeley Lawn Bowling Club was well represented by sixteen bowlers:  Twelve vets and four novices. The format:  One 12-end game in the morning, a break for lunch, and then one 12-end game in the afternoon. Two teams would be awarded 1st Place, 2nd Place and 3rd Place in both the morning and afternoon games. In addition, several ties were awarded. Prizes were awarded at the end of a very fun day!
 
Six BLBC members won money in the morning game:  Shawn Roney (skip), Frankie Napoli (skip), Bob Schwartz (second), Glenn Nunez (lead), Giulia Gallo (lead), and Sarah Allday (lead in tie game).
Four BLBC members won money in the afternoon:  Rob Hoey (skip), Bob Schwartz (second), Cindy Moss (lead), and Leslie Engler (lead). 
Congratulations to all BLBC winners and to all the BLBC members who participated! 

To celebrate PIMD’s 50th anniversary, fifty prizes were awarded based on today’s drawing from a large container of raffle tickets collected throughout the year starting on Opening Day. Anyone who played in a PIMD tournament or attended a PIMD meeting was given a raffle ticket. Nine members from our club won prizes! Cathy Dinnean and Sarah Allday each won a bottle of wine. Cris Benton won a set of decorative candles, Gordon Wilson won a Drake’s Pride towel and a PIMD 50th Anniversary coin, Annie Brillhart won a box of See’s candy, Jim Corr won a $20 gift card donated by PALBC, Cindy Moss won a $25 Bevmo certificate, Millard Long won a $50 Safeway certificate, Shawn Roney won $50 cash, and Frankie Napoli won $100 cash! 
Last, but not least, one of the primary goals of Closing Day is to recognize and encourage novices. Sixteen PIMD novices participated this year. BLBC novices included Cindy Moss, Glenn Nunez, Laile Giansetto, and Giulia Gallo. They are all a welcome addition to our club, and it was great to see them at Closing Day!
PIMD 2016 Novices
PIMD 2016 Novices

One of the highlights of the day occurred when Bud Birkenseer, PIMD Tournament Director, presented our own Giulia Gallo with a trophy to celebrate her win as the PIMD 2016 Novice of the Year. Well done Giulia!

Bud and Giulia, 2016 PIMD Novice Champion
Bud and Giulia, 2016 PIMD Novice Champion

 

Congratulations to everyone in our club who participated in this tournament!

Club Members

Ed Arnold Tournament

Fourteen mixed triples teams stepped on to the Palo Alto LBC green this morning hoping to bowl their best, have a great time….and maybe even win.

The Ed Arnold is a tough tournament because each bowler plays four ends as a lead, four ends as a second and four ends as a skip. Berkeley LBC was represented by four teams:
  • Rob Hoey, Leslie Engler and Bob Schwartz
  • Ethan Bortman, Cathy Dinnean and Erwin Vista
  • Jim Corr, Laile Giansetto and Bud Birkenseer (Palo Alto)
  • Shawn Roney, Ann Brillhart and Cris Benton.
There were some very close, hard-fought games. At the end of the day, only two teams won all three games. Congratulations to BLBC team Shawn, Ann and Cris! They took top honors with only a one point differential over team Mike Coiner, Frank Matyskiela and Michell Matthews. Congratulations also to two other BLBC teams:  Ethan, Cathy and Erwin took 3rd Place, and Jim, Bud (Palo Alto) and Laile took 6th Place. Go Berkeley LBC!!!
1st place winners: Ann Brillhart, Shawn Roney, Cris Benton
1st place winners: Ann Brillhart, Shawn Roney, Cris Benton

 

3rd Place Winners: Erwin Vista, Cathy Dinnean, Ethan Bortman
3rd Place Winners: Erwin Vista, Cathy Dinnean, Ethan Bortman
Club Members

BLBC 21st Jamboree a huge success

What a wonderful day! Not too hot, not too cold, and 24 bowlers from the PIMD were ready to step on to the green and start their games. But first, we took a few moments to present our club’s Howard Mackey with a certificate of appreciation for starting the Jamboree in 1996 and running it until 2014. This unique tournament requires players to keep individual rather than team score cards. Today’s tournament was named The Howard Mackey Jamboree in his honor! Special thanks to Jim Corr, our club’s talented wordsmith, and Cathy Dinnean, our club’s computer graphics pro, for the certificate! We also took a moment to acknowledge our club’s novices:  Cindy Moss, Laile Giansetto, Giulia Gallo, Hugo Deaux and Glenn Nunez.

As soon as everyone selected their score cards we headed out to to the green to find out who we would be bowling with…and against. Two bowlers had to drop out at the last minute, so we had to change two triples games to pairs, but that didn’t change the scoring. The top three skips, top three vices and top three leads would win money. It was wonderful to have ten bowlers representing clubs from Leisure Town, Oakland, Palo Alto, and San Francisco! Fifteen bowlers from our club rounded out the field with three of us rotating in and out as needed. While I tallied the scores after the final game, Cathy gathered all the players on the green for a “spider.” Our own Mr. Luo won the prize:  A bottle of wine. And, of course, everyone received one of Howard Mackey’s traditional post-tournament treats:  An ice cream drumstick!The winners:

1st Place Skip: Nikki Schrager
2nd Place Skip:  Pete Knopf
3rd Place Skip:  Ginger Harris

1st Place Vice:  Bob Beksel
2nd Place Vice:  Hugo Deaux
3rd Place Vice:  Dave McMullen

1st Place Lead:  Millard Long
Tie for 2nd and 3rd Place Leads:  Laile Giansetto and Giulia Gallo

Congratulations to everyone who participated! And a special round of applause for our club’s novices!

Club Members

Congratulation to Aussie Pairs Team Rob Hoey and Shawn Roney!

A very tough Aussie Pairs tournament this year at Rossmoor.  Twenty-eight top-notch teams played three 12-end games. Eleven bowlers from our club were on the green.

Huge round of applause for team Rob Hoey and Shawn Roney! They won all three games and took second place…losing only by a one point differential. The same thing happened to them last year! Third times the charm, guys.  Next year!

Team Bob Schwartz and his partner, Larry Collaco, won two and lost one. Well done!

Team Jim Corr and Annie Brillhart won one, tied one and lost one as did team Frankie Napoli and his partner, Sandy Souza.

Team John Hooper and Cris Benton won one and lost two.

Team Des Simpson and Dave McMullen tied one and lost two as did team Millard Long and his partner, Nikki Schrager.

Better luck to all of us next year!

Berkeley's Rob Hoey & Shawn Roney, the 2016 Aussie Pairs 2nd Place Team
Berkeley’s Rob Hoey & Shawn Roney, the 2016 Aussie Pairs 2nd Place Team
Club Members

Berkeley bowlers—and partner—bring home gold…again

Gold Medal Winners (l-r): Jim Corr (skip), Bob Schwartz (lead), Frank Matyskiela (second). Photo: Martha Mckee
Gold Medal Winners (l-r): Jim Corr (skip), Bob Schwartz (lead), Frank Matyskiela (second). Photo: Martha Mckee

Jim Corr and Bob Schwartz of Berkeley, together with Frank Matyskiela of Palo Alto LBC, took first place in the Sonoma Wine Country Senior Games for the second year in a row.

The games were held June 10-11, as last year, at the Oakmont Lawn Bowling Club in Santa Rosa and attracted teams from as far away as St. George, Utah and Fresno, CA as well as from around the Bay Area. A strong contingent of Oakmont bowlers also participated.

The format differed slightly from last year and allowed all 16 teams to participate fully on Day 2. Saturday, the top eight teams from Friday played a random draw of three 10-end games for Gold and Silver, while the bottom eight teams played off for the bronze medal. By lunch time, three Bay Area teams had won both their morning games. The San Francisco trio won their third game quickly, but with the knowledge that the winner of the Berkeley/PA – all Palo Alto matchup would almost certainly take first place because of a superior points score. As it turned out, after a close start, Jim, Frank, and Bob established a solid lead which Ian, Ginger, and Grace could not catch. In the bronze playoffs, a team from the Leisure Town club in Vacaville—with the delightful name of “Back Bowls Bobs and Marge”—came through for the medal. As an added bonus, this year all medal winners were also presented with a bottle of 2012 Russian River Valley Reserve Zinfandel from St. Anne’s Crossing, one of Sonoma County’s high-quality vineyards. As an anonymous bowler was heard to comment drolly: “You can’t drink a medal!”

A good competitive tournament, very well organized by the Oakmont Club, played in fine bowling weather (unlike last year when temperatures soared well into the 90s). What can be wrong with that? And as side note, the Oakmont Club has requested to re-join the PIMD after some years absence, so here’s hoping to see more of their players at tournaments around the region.

The winning teams (l-r): SILVER: Rod Arriaga, Robb Pawlak, Rita Arriaga "Team Triple R" San Francisco; GOLD: Jim Corr, Bob Schwartz, Frank Matyskiela "Bay Area Bowlers" Berkeley; BRONZE: Margie DuSell, Bob Beksel, Bob DuSell "Back Bowl Bobs and Margie" Vacaville (Leisure Town). Photo: Martha McKee
The winning teams (l-r): SILVER: Rod Arriaga, Robb Pawlak, Rita Arriaga “Team Triple R” San Francisco; GOLD: Jim Corr, Bob Schwartz, Frank Matyskiela “Bay Area Bowlers” Berkeley; BRONZE: Margie DuSell, Bob Beksel, Bob DuSell “Back Bowl Bobs and Margie” Vacaville (Leisure Town). Photo: Martha McKee
Club Members, Tournaments

Women’s Fives Team Takes Second Place

Six teams of women comprising members from PIMD and SW divisions assembled at SFLBC for the Women’s Fives Tournament (each team consisted of five women) on Sunday, July 12. It was wonderful to have such a widely represented field of bowlers! Weather can be an issue at SF but that Sunday turned out to be a beautiful day for bowling!

Three women from BLBC (Ann Brillhart, Cathy Dinnean and Sarah Allday) joined forces with Heather Seacrist (SJLBC) and Cheryl Anderson (PALBC). In the morning, one (often reluctant, Ann in this case) team member bowled in the Singles game while the other four teammates bowled in the Fours game. After a break for lunch, two team members (Heather and Cheryl) bowled in the Pairs game, and the other three team members (Cathy, Ann and Sarah) bowled in the Triples game. At the end of a long day of bowling, the ladies were delighted with their 2nd Place win. Well done!

Photo: Sarah Allday, Cathy Dinnean, Heather Seacrist, Ann Brillhart, and Cheryl Anderson

Community, Special Events

Young Bowlers Program a Huge Success

Berkeley Lawn Bowling Club initiated its first Young Bowlers Program in April. Twenty-three sixth graders (and one brave teacher) from The Berkeley School were introduced to lawn bowling. Club coaches set up four games of Triples and were on hand to help with learning how to bowl, to explain rules and strategy, and to ensure everyone had a great time. The student’s Physical Education teacher was on thegreen giving encouragement and watching their progress. The students were very enthusiastic and completely involved in the games. No slackers in this group! All the kids were awarded gold medals by their coaches. Our Club plans to continue the relationship with The Berkeley School as part of the School’s regular phys. ed. program. Who knows, maybe a future national champion is in the making?

Club Members, Tournaments

John Luster is 2015 4-Bowl Singles Champ

BLBC hosted our first intra-club tournament of the 2015 season today. The 4-Bowl Singles event is always popular, but this year we had a record number of entrants. Despite reservations about using eight rinks (due to the questionable condition of rinks one and eight), tournament director Annie Brillhart opted to have as many people bowl as possible. Therefore, we had sixteen bowlers competing to have their name on the Winner’s Board. By the way, we welcomed two new members: Hugo Deaux and Gordon Wilson. Good to see you both on the green!

Everyone bowled three ten-end games and then took a break for lunch while Annie tallied the scores. The top four bowlers who moved on to the semi-finals were Shawn Roney (the only bowler to win all three games!), John Luster, Cris Benton and Gordon Wilson. (Gordon is obviously a bowler to be reckoned with!) Shawn and Gordon had a very close game that was settled on the last end. Gordon prevailed. John got the better of Cris (this time!).

So, John and Gordon moved on to the finals. It was a tough match. Both bowlers made beautiful shots all of which received hearty applause from the club bowlers who stayed to watch. The score was tied going into the ninth end. John took two points when his last bowl trailed the jack away from Gordon’s bowl. Gordon fought back on the last end, but John finished with solid bowls and won the game.

Congratulations to John! And congratulations to all the bowlers who participated in today’s games!

Huge thanks to Cathy Dinnean, Susan Jamart and Sarah Allday for spiffing up the club house and providing plenty of coffee and snacks throughout the day! (Susan, your flowers were lovely!)

An exceptional note of thanks to Sarah for being a (mostly) lone marker all morning. Thank you, Sarah!

Last but not least, thanks to Cathy, Dave, John Hooper and Erwin for helping to mark the semi-final and final games.

I would be remiss if I didn’t thank all of those who bowled today for their feedback and generous support.

Annie Brillhart
Tournament Director