KELSEY’S RETURN TO BOWLS Kelsey Cottrell with husband Andrew Howie with daughters Sienna (3) & Ava (6 months) By Dee Ayre
There are many layers to Kelsey Cottrell. Certainly, her name is prominent in the world of bowls; astoundingly she even started playing for Australia at the age of 15. Fast forward to 2021, she has a total of 483 international appearances to her name, racking up achievements and medals, and has most recently won the Most Valued Player award for the 2021 Australian Open, following a fruitful fortnight which brought her the women’s pairs and fours titles. Alongside her bowls career, so far she has purchased her first house (at age 20), gained two degrees, met her partner Andrew through junior bowls and has two young children, Sienna age three and six-month-old Ava. Kelsey has recently returned to bowls after a 12-month break, currently playing with the Broadbeach Bulls. Kelsey’s dual career has gone down a few different paths. With encouragement from her mum, her early start with bowls in 2001 as a kid on the Sunshine Coast gained her considerable media attention. By the time Kelsey was in year 11, she wanted to be a sports journalist. Years 2007 and 2008 were big for Kelsey as she was in the Australian Squad, played in many international events and had a wonderful inroad to the world of bowls. It was exciting for the teenager to have the opportunity to win prize money at Grand Prix events all over the country. By nature, she was very studious and always loved school, even thinking she was going to be a school teacher for a while. However, she also enjoyed bowls, travelling and had a taste for elite sporting events. She is grateful to 18 queensland bowler August 2021
have people in her life who had been in similar situations and her school was very supportive. She visited the school careers advisor on an almost weekly basis to help keep her on the right track to complete year 12 with good grades. Her friends and family were keen on pushing her toward bowls but were very aware she must have something to fall back on. This was the same advice Kelsey’s mum gave; in that she was happy to support her sports ambitions but encouraged her to put a plan in place as well. With these steadying influences all around her, she took a year off to concentrate on finishing school, knowing she had to knuckle down and finish year 12 and get the marks she required to be accepted for the degree she wanted at university. When she finished school, she moved to the Gold Coast, and the timing proved right. With ongoing support from Greg Brown from Tewantin Bowls Club who had guided her from when she started, she spent a year playing Premier League and ladies’ pennants for South Tweed Sports and was then offered a monetary contract from St Johns Park to join them in 2009. This was the start of becoming a professional; time to focus on bowls again and squeeze in some travel, which she loved. Never had she imagined as an 18/19-year-old she would have financial contracts on the table. However, Kelsey had other goals as well. With a scholarship in place, she started a Bachelor of Journalism degree at Griffith, a university which is supportive of elite athletes. The first year was tough as she wanted to play bowls, study and have fun as well. She realised she still had decisions to make as to whether she was to be ‘in this
