Bannister set for TV appearance
Carol
Bannister embarked on her journey to the Australian Indoor Championships last
month at Tweed Heads Bowls Club after qualifying for the event here in
Tasmania. She headed up with no
preconceived ideas about how she might go, but simply with a plan in mind to
give it her best and now she refers to it as “The experience of a lifetime!”
By Carol’s
own admission her first opponent had her ‘on the ropes’, even getting herself
into a position to be down 0-8 at one point.
However with a steely determination of not wanting to lose the first round
she fought back and got to a tie-break, which she won to progress to the second
round. She then not only won the next
round but another 2 rounds to get herself into the Semi Final of the Australian
Indoor Championships and into the TV rounds of the big event. To view the Foxtel Lawn Bowls Schedule CLICKHERE.
In Bannister’s
first Television experience on the ‘show rink’, she said it was definitely
different than playing on the outdoor on a full green. The show rink is constructed by bringing the
grand stands in very close the night before and simply show cases just 1 rink
to enhance the spectator experience.
With very hot playing conditions on the indoor she was very weary of
keeping the fluids up, and even found that she need a damp cloth the entire
time to help grip the bowls better.
Carol guaranteed
that it was an event that has now become one of her favourites and the
Tasmanian Qualifying leg will become a permanent fixture on her calendar of
events each year. “More people should definitely
go in it. I like it because it is
something that you do all by yourself, no one can tell you whether you are good
enough or not, it’s up to you to prove it to yourself”. Bannister said the financial assistance provided
by Bowls Tasmania through the sponsorship of Tassal certainly helped ease the burden
of expense to travel to the event, as well as the wonderful assistance by her
new club Dover. All registered bowlers
throughout Tasmania are eligible to enter in the Tasmanian Qualifying Event
each year to try their hand at progressing into the National Arena.
With such a
strong contingent of Tasmanian bowlers migrating to the Gold Coast during the
winter time, Carol was not short of support, even managing to win over many of
the locals who love to see an underdog achieve.
Her greatest support though, came from her Husband Alan who she
described as her rock. He was there by
her side the entire time to cheer her through every match. Carol was supposed to be accompanied by her
Brother, Bill, who has also supported every moment of her bowls career, but unfortunately
he passed away before the event took place.
She dedicated her successes at this event to Bill.
Congratulations
Carol on your Top 4 finish!
