Bowlers help raise funds in Honeydew Bowling Club
Current national B1 Champion Tracy Smith will be representing South Africa in the IBBA World Championship in Australia.
Honeydew Bowling Club in Randburg hosted the fundraising games for Visually Impaired Bowlers of South Africa (VIBSA) players that will represent South Africa in the IBBA World Championship in Australia on March 2023.
The games for the day were designed to accommodate everyone including the visually and physically disabled bowlers, they played six heats and the sighted bowlers used eye patches and slings on their arms.
The blind bowler and the current national B1 champion, Tracy Smith said, “In our game today sighted players were blindfolded. It’s not just going to the green- you got to concentrate on so many things and they saw it themselves today that bling and wheelchair people can actually play, and we had a lot of fun, you will think that if you play against the blind or the disabled it’s not going to be the same that is not the case.”
ALSO READ: Honeydew Bowling Club is open to everyone
According to her guide, Tommy Smith, they were selected to play in Australia and it’s costing the team about R900 000 to go. They had to do a lot of fundraising to put the money together.
“At the moment we’re standing at R600 000 and something we still need another R200 000. This event was being held to contribute to that and next week we will have another event at Witpootjie Bowling Club on November 27. Tracy is a current world champion and she also went to the Commonwealth games,” added Thomas
Tracy Smith told Randburg Sun that her goal is to come back with the gold medal from Australia .
“I know their greens are different than ours but as a bowler you have to go and adapt to any situation and I’m going there to get the gold,” said Smith.
ALSO READ: Old Parks ladies bowl for fallen club member Sheila Fox
Tommy added that these events also contribute to promoting the games of disabled bowlers, and for people to see that even if you are disabled you can still play sports and play on a higher level.
VIBSA GC secretary, Stephanie Watkins explained that the fundraising event went well, and she encouraged people of all races to support and join the bowling community.
ALSO READ: Honeydew Bowling Club is open to everyone
