Tag Archives: lawn bowling

Posts from the road

National Championships – 2023 Edition

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(Colwood, British Columbia, Canada)

Almost exactly one year ago, I wrote a post about my first appearance at the National Lawn Bowling Championships. I described some of the parallels between travel and lawn bowling, and expressed the hope that I would be able to return to a national championship someday.

Team Ontario enters the Opening Ceremonies

Well, if you’ve been reading this blog, you know that my Fours team qualified for the Nationals this year. This time, however, the event wasn’t being held in Ontario. No, I would have to travel 4500 km in order to play! I decided to arrive early, so that I could practice and also see a bit of Vancouver Island.

The clubhouse at the Juan de Fuca Lawn Bowling Club

The 2023 Nationals were held at the Juan de Fuca Lawn Bowling Club in Colwood, B.C. Colwood is essentially a suburb of Victoria, and it has a vast sports complex with a spectacular collection of facilities. This extended to the lawn bowling club, which had 4 full greens. Even the biggest club in Ontario has only 2 full greens.

The officials (in red) and the participating provinces (Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Quebec, Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta, and British Columbia) at the Opening Ceremonies

I understand that the Juan de Fuca greens were built to accommodate the Commonwealth Games. Whatever the reason, it is a great facility. That is, if you can disregard the sudden blood-curdling screams every few minutes from the neighbouring zipline!

Team Ontario poses together before competition begins

Just like in 2022, there were some ups and downs…especially in the early going. We lost 3 of our first 4 games. The weather started off cool (note how bundled up I am in the photo at the very top of this post), but warmed as the week went along. And as the week progressed, the playing conditions changed too. The greens were markedly less “green” by the end, as you can see in some of the photos here. And as the greens dried out, the speed increased significantly. Fortunately, we were up to the challenge!

Ontario B and Alberta B deep in thought on the final day of round-robin play

By the last round-robin match, we faced a huge range of possible outcomes. We could win the game and still finish completely out of the medals. We could win and make it to the bronze medal match. Or, if things fell into place just right, we could even make it to the gold medal match! We did our part by winning our game. Finally, after an excruciating wait until the other games finished, we learned our fate…we were playing against British Columbia A for bronze!

I’m very focused here, delivering a bowl during the bronze medal match

The bronze medal match was like no other game I’ve ever played. Our rink was so fast, it exceeded the speed of the indoor surface I played on in Vancouver last fall. And it got even faster as the game went on. It took a remarkable amount of concentration and energy to deal with the challenging (and changing) conditions. We fell behind early, but we pulled together as a team to find a winning strategy. And it worked! We eventually prevailed by a score of 18-10, and took home the National bronze medal.

The happy medalists in the Men’s Fours competition: Ontario B, Saskatchewan, and Alberta A

I’m so fortunate to have found a sport that challenges on so many levels but also brings so much enjoyment. And like I said last year – those are exactly the words that I would use to describe the best kind of travel.

The requisite pipes and drums at the Nationals

And speaking of travel – I’ve got some news coming soon! Yes, there is finally a full-fledged international trip on the horizon, and I’ve already bought the plane tickets. Stay tuned for the big reveal!

Posts from the road

Trip to Vancouver…for sport!

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(Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada)

I certainly hadn’t planned to visit Vancouver in late October. However, that is precisely where we found ourselves for an extended, and exhausting, 8-day visit.

Our AirBnB, just off Main Street

Around the time that I wrote my previous blog post, my wife and I entered the Provincial Indoor Singles lawn bowling playdowns. To our mutual surprise and delight, we both ended up qualifying to represent Ontario at the National Indoor Singles championship. It was being held at the Pacific Indoor Bowls Club in Vancouver, B.C., so that’s where we found ourselves just 4 weeks later!

Entrance to the Pacific Indoor Bowls Club (Vancouver, B.C.)

The Pacific IBC is located in the Little Mountain neighbourhood. There weren’t any hotels around, so we decided to take a leap of faith and book an AirBnB for the very first time. We found a choice property that was only a 15-minute walk from the club, which took a lot of stress out of getting to/from the competition every day. And we had an entire floor to ourselves, so we had plenty of space to recover from the long days of competition. For a longer stay like this one, it was much better than being cooped up in a hotel room.

Nat Bailey Stadium – home of baseball’s Vancouver Canadians, and right beside the Pacific Indoor Bowls Club

The club was located in a nice recreational cluster. There was a baseball stadium next door, as well as a huge swimming/skating complex. This being the mildest part of Canada, soccer was still being played outdoors too (despite all the rain). My favourite part, however, was the stretch of Main Street near our accommodations.

Sawasdee Thai Restaurant – on Main Street, just around the corner from our accommodations

The Sawasdee Thai Restaurant had superb Tom Kha Gai soup, and was just one of a collection of appealing restaurants within two minutes of “our” place. Other good dining experiences included some very rich Indian cuisine and a restaurant featuring various “Silk Road” cuisines (from Persian to Tibetan). As regular readers of this blog will know, I automatically increase a neighbourhood’s rating when it has a strong independent record store. In this case, that store was Red Cat Records (see photo at the very top of this post).

Kingston Lawn Bowling Club had two competitors at the Nationals!

The competition itself was pretty intense, as it should be at a national event. There are many reasons for this but, in a nutshell, the indoor game is much more challenging for those of us who usually play outdoors. However, our play (and results) improved through the week. We were both quite happy with how we played over the last couple of days, and we hope to compete at this level again soon!

In action for Ontario (vs. Saskatchewan) on the tricky Rink 1 in the men’s competition

As we might start practicing as early as 7:30 a.m. each day, and games continued past 6:00 p.m., we didn’t have much left in the tank at the end of the day. The circumstances forced us to eat, shop, and entertain ourselves in Little Mountain. But this had its upside: we developed some familiarity with our favourite stores, and began to feel at home in our little corner of Vancouver.

Overhead view of Rink 1 – first end of an Ontario-B.C. matchup in the women’s competition

Bottom line: with appropriate research, an AirBnB can be a superb replacement for poorly sited hotels…especially in a city with high prices and with the price of hotels spiraling ever upward. Just like I thought I’d never go on a group tour, I thought I’d never use this kind of accommodation. But it definitely has its place, and I wouldn’t hesitate to go this route again.

Posts from the road

My lawn bowling journey

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(Burlington, Ontario, Canada)

In my last post, I promised that I would explain some of the posting delays on the blog lately. With the easing of the pandemic (or at least the associated restrictions), it would have been reasonable to expect some international travel this summer. After all, this is a travel blog, and international travel has only recently become somewhat accessible again. However, life sometimes takes some unexpected turns. While I still took some vacation days this summer, their purpose was altogether different. Here’s what happened…

Lining up for the bowl and shoe inspection at the National championships in Burlington

During the pandemic, I trained extensively in the sport of lawn bowling. I started lawn bowling in 2017 as a way to bridge the gap between curling seasons. As it turned out, lawn bowling seemed to suit me better than curling. And, as an outdoor and well-spaced activity, it wasn’t hampered by the pandemic as much as my other sports. In late 2019, I was lucky to find some people who were on the same wavelength, so I decided to get much more serious about the game and try to get to the next level.

Opening Ceremonies: the umpires are at the front, with the various provincial teams behind.

My wife devoted countless hours, with a clipboard and tape-measure, to tracking my progress. My coach Blaine provided long-distance advice and support. My pairs partner Bill was equally committed and was always available to discuss strategy, exchange ideas, and try to speed up the learning curve. I threw thousands upon thousands of bowls. I did the analytics and watched the tapes. I was active every single day, in some form, regardless of the weather. Finally, in 2022, I had a real opportunity to put all of the preparation to good use.


Discussing strategy in our game against British Columbia “A”

It happened fast…if you can call 10 matches over 3 days fast! Despite a massive Men’s Pairs Ontario Championship in Agincourt with 31 very strong teams, and with only two Ontario teams qualifying for the subsequent National Championship, Bill and I somehow managed to make it. Sure, we had put in the preparation time. But so did a lot of other teams. It was still a huge surprise that we qualified.

Delivering a bowl against Nova Scotia

Looking back to that event, I remember thinking that it was like being a kid again…when there was always the potential of something special happening. Except now I could fully appreciate the enormity of it.

Instructing Bill against Alberta “A”

If you know anything about my competitive nature, you can imagine that this really took up a lot of my spare time in 2022. And before I knew it, we were wearing our sparkly new Team Ontario shirts and delivering practice bowls at the Nationals in Burlington, Ontario.

Team Ontario (players, coaches, and support).

There were ups and downs at the Nationals. We beat some great teams, and really struggled against others. We didn’t make it to the medal round. But as soon as it was over, we were already talking about trying to qualify again.

Trial bowls against Alberta “A”

I have mostly kept lawn bowling out of this blog. It’s certainly a misunderstood sport. And despite over 100 clubs in Ontario alone, it is still seen as a niche or fringe sport. But now I see that it really is a journey…with a lot of the characteristics that I enjoy about travel. The planning (both strategic and logistical) is something I love to do for regular travel too. My desire for special experiences, rather than just passively observing things, is something I also endorse in regular travel. Pushing myself out of my comfort zone, against very strong competition, is in some ways just like travelling to a country very different from my own…and just as rewarding when it works out. (We did put thousands of kilometers on our car this summer, so there was quite a bit of “traditional” travel too.)

Panorama view of the Burlington Lawn Bowling Club

As in any great trip, there were bumps along the way. I just couldn’t figure out Rink 16 in Burlington. In another game, a badly-timed weather delay probably turned a win into a loss. But sometimes, the objectively disastrous parts of a trip are the most memorable and provide the most opportunities for growth. The learning curve continues, full speed ahead.

(Right:) Calling a shot against British Columbia “A”

So that’s where I’m at. Whatever happens next on this journey, I’m going to continue to push myself and seek out new experiences…whether it is in the context of travel or sports.