Sunday was an exciting day for BLBC. Novice lawn bowler and curler, Roland Gong, brought together THIRTY-FIVE members of SFBACC member curling clubs for an afternoon of fun with lawn bowling. Senior coach Ted Crum was there along with Cathy Dinnean and Ann Gardiner. Yours truly noted that one of the curlers was already tossing out a challenge on Facebook to the San Francisco curling crowd. BLBC welcomes the curling group to the green. Here’s to a long, enjoyable relationship between the curling and lawn bowling clubs.
All posts by Dave Rockhold
Leisure Town 5 – Berkeley 4
Last Friday, the bowlers from Leisure Town came to play a “friendly” match. Well, it may have been friendly, but they meant business. Even though the Berkeley team of Corr, Knox, and Gardiner won all three of their games, it was LT 5, Berkeley 4 at the end of the day. Sharing ice cream at the end of the day proves that it was friendly. Berkeley will travel to Leisure town in September looking for a rematch.
Triples Results-Saturday, June 30, 2012
This year’s in house Triples tournament drew 18 bowlers plus two who were ready to bowl if needed. Gary Knox did another fine job setting things up and everyone bowled two 12 end games. After the second game, the top two teams played a third game to decide the winner. In that last match, skip Jim Corr with Dave Rockhold and Susan Jamark faced skip Gary Knox with Millard Long and Jason Chien. Gary and Jason were on last season’s winning team so they were going for a repeat. The final match was no runaway to be sure but, in the end, Jim, Dave and Susan held on for the win. Thanks to all who participated – it was loads of fun.
CLICK HERE to check out the Picasa Gallery – see the anatomy of a delivery
2012 Pairs Tournament Results
Our club pairs tournament for 2012 brought out 16 bowlers, many of whom were recent devotees to the sport. Tournament director Gary Knox made arrangements for the draw and teams bowled two ten-end games beginning at 9:30. The sun broke through the fog as play began. At the end of the second game, there were two teams with two wins.
After a mellow lunch break, the final match took up, with Shawn Roney and Susan Jamart facing Cathy Dinnean and Wilfred Wong. Compliments must certainly go to Shawn, who is still in his first year of bowling, and Will, who is the club’s newest member. All four players made some excellent shots, and it wasn’t until the final ends that Cathy and Will got some breaks and pulled out to win the tournament.
Congratulations to Cathy and Wilfred!
Susan, Shawn, Cathy and Wilfred (L to R)
Sven Eric Walden, Life Member (1919-2012)
Sven Eric Walden, a Life Member of BLBC passed away in March. Eric was a very active member who helped with maintenance, served as greenskeeper, emcee of the club’s monthly birthday events, and was quick with a joke. Our condolences to his family.
Berkeley Jamboree was a huge success
After the past few days/weeks of rain, today was a wonderful change. When I got to the green at 7:30 this morning, there wasn’t even much dew even though the temperature was under 50! After some setup activities, other “worker bees” appeared and, by nine, 42 bowlers from around the Bay area accumulated. Our consummate hostess, Barbara Mackey, had the clubhouse ready for the crowd. There were balloons, candies, jellybeans, peanuts, fresh strawberries, bagels and cream cheese, etc. The Joint was looking pretty darned festive!! Barbara – thank you, thank you, thank you.
But this was a bowling event and Barbara’s husband Howard had everything arranged. There would be three games on seven rinks with each person having a new team each game. At around, 9:30 the action began with the first game. Then came lunch – we gathered around the table and just had a good time chatting with old friends and making some new ones. But this day was about the bowling.
After lunch came two more games, each with different teammates. At the end of each game, every player’s score was tallied. In the end, every player was a separate entity and anyone could win one of the cash prizes.
Oh, yea, we did break between game 2 and 3 for an ice cream break. But the day was about the bowling. As fate would have it, two of the top Berkeley bowlers were at the top of the list and, when it came to the third game, the draw had them facing each other. Nikki Schrager and Jim Corr and their teammates faced off on rink one. It was a close game all the way to the last end. Jim was up 3 and Jim was at the mat trying to break up a cluster of points. His shot veered off to one side and that left Nikki holding three points with one bowl to go. A hush fell over the crowd (almost), as Nikki rolled her final bowl. OMG! She did it; she scored the fourth point to garner the win in that final game.
For the day, Nikki was the #1 money winner. Congratulations, Nikki.
As for me, I came in in the middle of the pack and won’t have to worry about where to spend my winnings. I do, however, get to enjoy the rewards of a great day of lawn bowling. Please come an join us!
Four Bowl Singles is in the bag – Welcome News
2012’s First Tournament
After a few weeks of rain, it was a welcome relief to see the sun shining on Saturday morning. There wasn’t even that much dew, the air was crisp and I knew we would have a great day. The whole green was in use as fourteen bowlers signed up for the annual four bowl singles tournament. The green itself is in very good shape thanks to the efforts of our greenskeeper and those club members who occasionally volunteer to help with the weeding, sanding, etc.
You can’t say lawn bowling isn’t for all ages as the spread was from mid twenties to late eighties. Everyone who bowled played in the first two games which were to 15 points with a 12-end limit (for time’s sake). After the morning session, five players had won both of their morning matches so it came down to points differential to see who would bowl in the semi- final round. So after lunch, four bowlers stepped on the mat; Shawn Roney, Erwin Vista, Jim Corr, and Howard Mackey. These two games were also in the short format and the winners emerged – Erwin Vista and Howard Mackey.
Erwin is a fairly new member of the club while Howard has been around long enough to have been greenskeeper, president, janitor, etc. So it was experience vs. youth in the final game to 21 points. In the end, Howard Mackey was the winner. This ever-young 86 year-old former teacher is seen third from right in the photo below displaying one of his always present smiles. Congratulations Howard. By the way, the other players shown are Jim Corr (L), Erwin Vista, Howard, and Shawn Roney. Shawn, by the way, is a novice – he has been bowling for less than two years!
Here’s to a fantastic season. Oh, and thanks to Barbara Mackey and Geoff Chandler for serving as Markers.
Great day on the green!
Today was beautiful in Berkeley. We managed to get two pairs games in the morning and a triples game in the afternoon. Some worker bees – namely Ann Gardiner – helped weed the ditch while the paint elves snuck in to touch up the ladie’s restroom.
The green is looking good; but it needs bowlers! The east half has been resting for a few weeks. Our greenskeeper is bringing some low spots up to level to improve the surface.
In the next few weeks, we hope to verticut the green to further improve the surface.
And, remember, OPENING DAY IS ONLY TWO WEEKS AWAY. Bleach those whites and start doing pullups to build your stamina.
Come on down and bowl! Bring friends!
Practice makes perfect…
We’re so fortunate here in the Bay area. The weather is great and you can practice even during the winter months. Try using two sets of bowls and alternate between short and long jacks. If anyone needs a little extra coaching, talk to one of the coaches – Ted Crum, Ray Francis or Jim Corr.
There are many other drills that you can use to improve your game!
Remembering Old Friends
Berkeley LBC lost two old friends in 2011; Richard Wheeler and Charlie Black. Richard or “Padre” as we sometimes called him was a member here and at Palo Alto LBC. Charlie was a long time lawn bowler with a booming voice and a keen eye. We’ll miss them both!