Orangia and Oud-Studente Bowling Clubs in Bloemfontein again hosted the National Bowls South Africa Junior Championships between the 29th March – 01 April 2025.
In conjunction with the Dept of Sports, Arts and Culture, Bowls South Africa annually brings together the youth in bowls to compete in this prestigious tournament in the respective age categories of under 15, under 18 and under 25.
In a sport, historically associated with ‘pensioners’, the growth of participants in the junior ranks have seen tremendous increase in numbers over recent years and have established bowls as a very sought after activity for young players.
In the true spirit of North West Junior Bowls, the team of Thinus van Zyl, Ronan Olivier, Janlu Myburg and Lezandri Hildebrand showed enormous perseverance during their sectional games. Three of these players are members of Potchefstroom Country Club Bowls.
Finishing top of their section after the first day of play, they suffered an unfortunate loss in the last breaths of their game against the Sables team on day 2, after an unlucky shot on the second last end saw them dropping five shots and leading to a deficit of 2 shots total and only one end of play remaining. At the end of the Day 2, they were positioned in 2nd place, only the respective section winners would qualify to compete in the playoffs for the medal positions. This loss however only motivated the team going into the last day, with them prevailing in their games against Bowls Gauteng North and Southern Free Sate to secure a spot in the semi-finals.
In the semi-finals they were up against a very talented Border side, but did not let up and pushed through to a very convincing win and a spot in the finals.
The finals of all age groups were held at Orangia Bowling club on Tuesday, 01 April 2025. with an array of spectators surrounding the greens to witness this exciting display of skills. North West under 25 played the final against Northern Free State.
However, bowl for bowl the North West team showed grit and composure, dominating the game from the very first end. All members contributed to this final game with perfectly timed ‘goosebump’ shots ensuring that they could remain in the lead up until the very last bowl of the game to earn the Bowls South Africa National Under 25 gold
medal. This is an enormous achievement for North West Bowls and have brought the NW Junior achievements full circle, since the under 20 and 25 teams had earned a bronze medal in 2022, a silver medal in 2023 and now finally the highest honour of gold. North West Bowls invites all young people, no matter their age, looking to join this exciting sport of
ours to enquire from their nearest bowling club.

Potchefstroom Country Club can be contacted via email pccbowls@gmail.com , alternatively visit the
club’s website at https://www.potchcc.co.za for contact details.