Queen of the lawns

Umhlali bowls club’s own Jill Hackland is the queen of South African bowls singles.

She won the SA singles title in May 2013 in Durban which earned her a ticket to the World Champion of Champions competition held in Christ Church, New Zealand from November 23 to 30.

Each of the 21 participating nations could enter one female and one male bowls player, so playing in the World Champion of Champions tournament in itself is considered to be an incredible achievement.

Jill said coming from a country where the bowling greens are a lot slower put her at a disadvantage.

“The greens over there were lightening fast and getting used to them was a big adjustment,” said Jill.

As an additional challenge to the land of the long white cloud’s notoriously unpredictable weather patterns, Jill played with a bowl that was too small for the conditions over there.

“My size one bowl was too light and the wind blew it out on those super fast greens.”

She said not even buckets of rain could bring down the greens’ pace.

Jill said doing well at the World Champion of Champions is like winning a grand slam tennis title; you need to have been there before.

“The girl who came second played in her sixth World Champion of Champions and the overall winner was the defending champion. But it was a wonderful trip that I will never forget.”

With 38 years experience under her belt, Jill has represented South Africa at the Commonwealth Games in 1998 and 2002 where they won gold in the trips competition, and at the 2004 Bowls World Bowls before retiring from international competition and becoming a national selector.

Jill has never stopped playing and became the South African singles champion for the first time last year.

“I enjoy the singles because it is not a selection but an achievement.”

Umhlali bowls club is home for Jill and she has been a member there since she first started as a junior player.