Disabled bowlers recognized

Bowls South Africa has nominated November as Awareness of Bowls for the Disabled month.

In keeping with the ethos of 1sport4all, most disabled bowlers belong to and play in able-bodied clubs and competitions and are not in any way restricted to a field of disability. The disability arena opens up an additional dimension for participation and competition in which the disabled can participate internationally. They compete with and against able-bodied bowlers socially, competitively and in corporate events. Lawn bowls is a game of skill, strategy, concentration, cooperation, tactics and stamina, and it requires perseverance and constant adjustment to situations as it arise.

Wentworth Bowling Club’s Mandy Sargent is one such bowler who demonstrates the perseverance required to achieve in a sporting arena. Born cerebral palsied, Mandy has minimal use of her left limbs, but undeterred by her physical disability, as a young girl she began competing in field events for the disabled athletic association. Realising she did not have the arm strength to compete against more muscular contestants she turned her hand to lawn bowls where she found her niche and has achieved what many can only dream of.

With the Association for Disabled Bowlers, Mandy was selected to travel to the United Kingdom in 1995 to compete in trials to qualify for the Paralympics in Atlanta in the USA in 1996. Her success in these trials resulted in her representing South Africa in the singles competition in Atlanta and achieving a fourth place in the world in her category.

Her subsequent bowling highlights include two trips to the United Kingdom to represent South Africa in international competitions where she competed in the singles, pairs and trips categories and achieved a silver medal for trips.

Between 2005 and 2015 Mandy participated in the South African Nationals for Disabled Bowlers and mentions the highlight of these years being a gold medal in the women’s pairs section.

Relocating to the Bluff early in 2019, Mandy joined the Wentworth Bowling Club where she has been fully accepted as a force to be reckoned with on the bowling green. She has entered and held her own in club competitions and has traveled with women’s teams to compete in inter-club competitions.

“Lawn bowls is one of the few sports where able-bodied and the disabled can compete together on equal footing by virtue of the nature of the sport,” says Mandy. “And any disabled person whether they be an amputee, a polio victim, have a neurological dysfunction, be on crutches, in a wheelchair or visually impaired should join a bowling club and enjoy the challenge lawn bowls presents.”

She chuckles when she explains that disabled bowlers have nicknamed competitors in wheelchairs ‘wheelies’ and those on crutches ‘wobblies’.