http://www.bowlsinternational.com November 2017 BOWLS INTERNATIONAL 47"But I was intrigued, and fell in love with
the sport.
At that time, the Abertillery club was
languishing at the foot of MBA Division
6, but I thought I could help develop the
club, and had a vision of what I wanted
to achieve."
Barely out of his teens, he could see
that in other sports there were recognised
structures, pathways and coaching
methods that enabled clubs and players
to thrive.
He was determined to introduce such
systems into bowls with a view to
rescuing the Abertillery club.
"My aim is not only to see my home
town club win the coveted Carruthers
Shield," Richard says.
"But also to help develop a sustainable
club that’s at the heart of our community.
Part of this involves giving junior
players the opportunity to reach their full
potential - an opportunity that just wasn’t
there when I first joined the club."
Jamie, who started playing bowls in
Abertillery some 25 years ago, was
introduced to the game by a mate, and
took to it straight away, but there was
little to satisfy a teenager's ambitions in
Abertillery, and, after nine years, and in
search of stiffer competition, he moved on
to Blaina, and then to Monmouthshire's
star club, RTB Ebbw Vale.
Capped for Wales at Under 25 level
while at Blaina, he moved on to RTB
Ebbw Vale, where he enjoyed great
success over the next 15 years.
"I regularly played bowls with the
best in Wales, like Stephen Harris, Jon
Tomlinson and Owain Dando - and for
one season (before he moved back to
Scotland) Stewart Anderson."
The highlight for Jamie was winning
the Carruthers Shield twice as a member
of the RTB Ebbw Vale club, but, three
years ago, he decided to move back to
Abertillery to help Richard develop the
kids and the team.
"Richard started kid bowls on his own,
and did a great job, running it virtually
single-handedly for quite a few years,"
says Jamie. "I'm glad to say that, fromthe day I started back with Abertillery,
Richard got me involved in kids bowls.
"We work very well together, because
we both love bowls, and have the same
drive and passion for the club," he adds.
"With the two of us bouncing ideas
off each other there has been a huge
difference in kids bowls over the past
two years and I feel that Richard and I
have taken it to a different level - we are
a great team!"
Richard says proudly: "Now we get
between 30 and 50 kids along on a
weekly basis - but that's just the Friday
night club.
"Altogether, one way or another, we
have introduced 1,500 or so kids to
bowls. At the local Comprehensive
School, we had 450 pupils playing
bowls in one day. And we went down
to Cardiff, and organised a street bowls
festival."GIVING SOMETHING BACK
The night I attended an end-of-season
Friday night session in September, it was
clear how much the kids enjoyed the
evening - but the sense of fun extended
to those who were in charge - and also to
the spectators, who included a number of
parents and proud grandparents.
On that evening, there were also 11Welsh internationals present, including
Women's World Pairs champions Laura
Daniels and Jess Sims, who had given
up their time to join the kids, and to lend
their support.
Hazel Wilson, Anwen Butten,
Mel Thomas, Sara Nicholls, Emma
Woodcock, Pauline Wilson, Steve Harris,
Marc Wyatt and David Kingdon, as well
as Daniels and Sims, were obviously
bowled over by the sense of fun and
energy they discovered in Abertillery.
The red-shirted internationals were
amazed, amused and impressed by the
range of activities for the youngsters,
whose ages ranged from five to
thirteen. Some were wearing football
tops emblazoned with the names of
Bale, Messi and Ronaldo, and some
appropriately scaled-down nets were
placed in the turf, so that the bowlers
could deliver a bowl and score a goal!
Ramps, obstacles, and pin-ball style
receptacles called scoring wedges, used
for New Age or junior bowls, proved
to be a bit of a challenge - even for the
international visitors, who found it hard
to score points by getting their bowls to
come to rest in a cup on the wedge.
Everyone was kept busy, and the words
used by Richard and Jamie were always
positive. None of your, "Too >>>Above:
Richard wants
juniors to
achieve their full
potentialBelow:
The young
bowlers are put
through their
paces, but the
overall emphasis
is on having fun46-48_BI_ABERTILLERY_Nov17_cc.indd 47 12/10/2017 14:40