JUNIOR STATE CHAMPIONSHIPS

from FEBRUARY 2023

Coaching with BQ Coaching Committee Controlling length and weight during delivery

By Kelsey Cottrell

The Queensland State Junior Championships is a much anticipated event on the state calendar.

Not only do these young stars count down the days leading up, but their family, friends, coaches and club mates get excited to see all the enthusiastic kids take to the greens for a great week of bowls.

One of many great things about these championships is that boys and girls from all over Queensland, some travelling great distances to be there, can join forces in the open format.

Kicking off on Sunday, January 15 with the U18 Open Fours Sectionals, the standard started high and remained high throughout the competition, despite heavy rain. Highlights were watching the Gerick family Lacey (Kawana), Riley (Belmont Services) and Cody (Belmont Services) team up with Travis Pearce from Kenilworth and take the greens by storm to win their section, followed by Algester brothers Thomas and Trent Brehmer who joined Todd Brain, also from Algester, and Jack Chirgwin (Glasshouse) hot on their heels throughout the day to set their places in the gold medal match due to take place on Tuesday, January 17. Nudging forward were Roma’s Stella Palmer, Sophie Allan (Helensvale), Oliver Corken (Thuringowa City) and Hayden Oster from Kandanga, who claimed their spot in the bronze medal match against local girl Phoebie Russell (Burnett), Logan Hughes (Solander Lakes), local boy Christian McLellan (Burnett) and Hayden Leslie (Enoggera).

Monday was a full day of U18 Open Pairs and U15 Open Pairs sectional play, followed by finals day for the U18 Open Fours and Pairs on Tuesday, which saw lots of juniors were going home extremely happy, but also extremely wet! A day of rain didn’t make it easy for anyone, but the juniors were resilient and still played amazing bowls on the first of three finals days of the 2023 State Junior Championships.

U18 Open Fours

The fours gold medal was a family affair with Team Gerick who took on Team Chirgwin with the Brehmer brothers.

Beware of the wounded bowler they say; young Thomas had his left arm in a cast but still had an entertaining leads battle with the sole girl in today’s fours final, Lacey Gerick from Club Kawana.

It was a remarkable comeback for team Gerick having trailed the entire match; whilst the margin was not huge it took a lot of fight in testing conditions to play those crucial bowls at the right time, in particular to force the match into an extra end.

Congratulations to our Fours bronze medallists Oliver Corken, Sophie Allan, Stella Palmer and Hayden Oster.

U18 Open Fours Final Results

Gold/Silver: L Gerick, T Pearce, R Gerick & C

S Palmer, S Allan, O Corken &

U18 Open Pairs

The U18 Open Pairs final had a rain delay but once the rain eased the finalists were back at it. The rain break was an opportunity to compete in a different way by playing pool against each other at the Burnett Bowls Club.

Once play resumed, Todd Brain and Jack Chirgwin had a busy day contesting two finals and this time they were in the winners’ circle. They had a narrow 5 shot win over the Hayden duo, Hayden Leslie and skipped by Hayden Oster. Bronze medals went to Travis Pearce and Sam Collier (Broadbeach) after they defeated Sophie Allan and Stella Palmer.

U18 Open Pairs Final Results

Gold/Silver: Todd Brain/Jack Chirgwin def Hayden Leslie/Hayden Oster 21-16.

Bronze: Travis Pearce/Samuel Collier def Sophie Allan/Stella Palmer 24-9.

U15 Open Pairs

While the excitement of the U18 matches was capturing some of the spectators’ attention, the U15 Open Pairs finals were taking place on neighbouring rinks.

The semi-finals provided a clear indication of what was to come in the medal matches, when Cooper Sutton (Pilaba) and Bryce Jarrett (Pialba) took the stage defeating Shae Daly and Cade Daly (both from Paradise Point) by 40 shots. Latrell Lawton (Charleville) and Jamieson Morgan (Burnett) were also on fire defeating Phoebe Russell (Burnett) and Mia Haylock (Roma) by 20 shots.

In the gold medal match, Lawton and Jamieson lifted the trophy after defeating Jarrett and Sutton in the final, whilst an all girls team of Phoebie Russell and Mia Haylock took home bronze.

Officials At The Welcoming Ceremony

President, Mayor Jack Dempsey - Bundaberg Regional Council, Julie McInallyBundaberg District Ladies Section President and Stephen Bennett MP - Burnett Electorate

U15 Open Pairs Final Results

Gold/Silver: Latrell Lawton/Jamieson Morgan def Cooper Sutton/Bryce Jarrett 15-12.

Bronze: Phoebe Russell/Mia Haylock def Shae Daly/Cade Daly 16-15.

U18 Open Triples

The Open Triples event was completed following two knockout rounds on Wednesday, January 18. It was a triple treat after double gold was already in the bag for Lacey, Riley and Cody Gerick after winning the Open Fours then teaming up again to win gold in the Junior Triples Championship.

The three siblings were creating history together and fast becoming hot favourites to win gold in the their respective Singles Championships which were due to kick off the next day at clubs in the Burnett region.

The triples final panned out much the same as the Gerick’s fours victory; trailing in the match until the completion of the 13th end, before picking up a handy four shots to go into the penultimate end leading by one. More great shots were played in the final two ends and the game was in the balance right up until the last bowl was played.

A final attempt from Pialba’s Bryce Jarrett, needing to trail the jack a metre to score three for his teammates Keira Powell (Tweed Heads) and Lucas Evans (Kawana) to snatch back the gold, sailed past the jack by the smallest of margins handing the Gerick trio a 3 shot victory.

The experience of Cody Gerick was shining through these championships having already represented Queensland at the 2022 Junior Nationals; and now his younger siblings Lacey and Riley are putting their best foot forward to join their big brother in the maroon colours later this year.

Spectators and competitors were wondering if they would see brothers taking each other on in the singles final, but there were plenty more quality junior players who were future stars. Bronze was won by Todd Brain (Algester), Jack Chirgwin (Glasshouse) & Hayden Leslie (Enoggera).

U18 Open Triples Final Results

Gold/Silver: L Gerick, R Gerick, C Gerick def L Evans, K Powell, B Jarrett 13-10.

Bronze: T Brain, J Chirgwin, H Leslie def H Flood, R Pollock, R Paterson 21-2.

sINGLES

The 2023 State Junior Championships concluded in Bundaberg with remarkable finals contested between our State’s brightest young stars.

Before Bowls Queensland selectors made their final deliberations over the State Squads for upcoming representative events, they witnessed finals of the State U18 Boys and Girls Singles, State U15 Boys and Girls Singles and the inaugural U12 Open Singles.

After the fours, pairs and triples had been played earlier this week there were a few clear-cut favourites to reign supreme in the U18 singles categories, and they were all from the same family!

The Gerick family had already created history these championships and it was a fitting end for Cody Gerick, the oldest of the siblings to walk away with the coveted U18 Boys Singles gold, his third gold medal of the week. He triumphed over Kandanga’s Hayden Oster in a whirlwind final, 21 shots to 17.

Perhaps the most memorable victory will be the semi-final where Cody defeated his younger brother Riley by just one shot. Now that’s some bragging rights!

In the girls U18 Singles Roma’s Stella Palmer defeated Dekota Brindle from Hamilton 21-15. Stella, who features in this issue on pages 20-21, said she felt really privileged and proud to have won the U18 Singles title. “It was one of my goals and it also goes to show that with sustained training, comes results,” Stella said. “I really need to thank my dad for the consistent coaching he gave me leading up to the big event, and I think a big thanks needs to go Bowls Queensland for always putting up a great juniors’ competition. It was a great week and I loved every moment of it. I can’t wait for what lays ahead this coming year!”

Stella’s dad David said that Stella has put a lot of work into training and it is great to see her efforts have been rewarded with achieving a gold medal. In the playoff for bronze, it was the green shirts on the green with the two Sophies from Helensvale vying for bronze. After a riveting game, Sophie Allan got the better of her Helensvale team-mate Sophie Kiepe 21-19.

Another name that kept popping up these championships was our eventual winner of the Boys U15 Singles Thomas Brehmer, who had already claimed silver for the U18 Open Fours in this contest. Thomas broke his arm before the competition by falling off his scooter the Monday before leaving for the State Championships and straight away he said, “but it’s OK, it’s my left arm,” as he bowls with his right arm. Thomas is a little bit pleased he can’t write at school as he actually writes left handed. He was more worried about being able to play in the championships than anything else. Thomas didn’t feel that the broken arm affected his game at all. He was going to play in the Triples as well, but his mum pulled him out because she thought it might be too busy a week for him with the broken arm, but in hindsight he wished he had played in the Triples as well.

Paradise Point’s Ben Harrison, who is one of the club’s young superstars and was featured in the Queensland Bowler in the August 2021 issue, pages 16-17. Ben, who claimed the silver medal, starred in the heartwarming ABC’s YouTube Clip You’re Never too Old to Inspire, was encouraged to play bowls by Paradise

Point’s Mick Thorne from the age of seven after he was kicking a football on the green. Recognising that reprimanding Ben might create a negative perception of bowls in the future, Mick invited Ben to play bowls. Ben has been enjoying rolling up and learning more each week, which has led to his bowls success.

TV star Pialba’s Cooper Sutton (see page 24 in this issue), whose main ambition for the sport is to “go all the way to the World Bowls Tournaments,” claimed bronze after defeating Broadbeach’s Xavier Parkinson in a thrilling 21-18 match. The best thing about the U15 event is we will get to watch these future champions get better and better over the next three years or more.

What a big day the Tuesday was for all the supporters back in Roma who would’ve been on the edge of their seat watching their two golden girls compete with the best juniors in the State. While Stella was taking out gold in the U18 Girls Singles, their other charge, Mia Haylock was busy winning gold in the U15s. She had a battle with Tilah Mason, winning in a nail biter 21-20. Local girl Phoebie Russell, who had the full support of her club, main host club Burnett Bowls Club, defeated Logan Hughes (Solander Lakes) in another tight match 21-18 to claim the bronze on home soil.

The inaugural U12 Open Singles was a huge success with the smallest of superstars taking to the greens in what would be the most exciting event in their bowls journeys to-date.

Gold medallist Steven Bird-Monk has grown up around the bowling green and is the number one supporter of the Burleigh Waterdragons in the Queensland Premier League. The little pocket rocket literally jumped for joy when he drew a toucher to win the game, a brilliant moment from across the six days of competition. Steven’s mum, Ali, commented on the week and said it was an amazing week of bowls and friendships. “This mumma and dad are still beaming with pride,” she said.

Tara’s Joshua Smith took home a silver medal and Keala Nukunuku from Beenleigh won bronze after defeating Miles’ Dallas Brown 21-6.

Bowls Queensland would like to congratulate all the competitors and thank each and everyone of them for their entertaining bowls, but more importantly for their wonderful sportsmanship shown toward each other. Thanks to sponsors Burnett Bowls Club West Bundaberg, Macadamias Australia, Across The Waves Bowls Club, Arcon Metals Recycling, Bundaberg Bowls Club, Bundaberg Regional Council & West Bundaberg Pharmacy for their support.