Our club pairs tournament for 2012 brought out 16 bowlers, many of whom were recent devotees to the sport. Tournament director Gary Knox made arrangements for the draw and teams bowled two ten-end games beginning at 9:30. The sun broke through the fog as play began. At the end of the second game, there were two teams with two wins.

After a mellow lunch break, the final match took up, with Shawn Roney and Susan Jamart facing Cathy Dinnean and Wilfred Wong. Compliments must certainly go to Shawn, who is still in his first year of bowling, and Will, who is the club’s newest member. All four players made some excellent shots, and it wasn’t until the final ends that Cathy and Will got some breaks and pulled out to win the tournament.

Congratulations to Cathy and Wilfred!

Susan, Shawn, Cathy and Wilfred (L to R)

Filed under: Members, Special Events, Tournaments by Dave Rockhold, May 14, 2012

After the past few days/weeks of rain, today was a wonderful change. When I got to the green at 7:30 this morning, there wasn’t even much dew even though the temperature was under 50! After some setup activities, other “worker bees” appeared and, by nine, 42 bowlers from around the Bay area accumulated. Our consummate hostess, Barbara Mackey, had the clubhouse ready for the crowd. There were balloons, candies, jellybeans, peanuts, fresh strawberries, bagels and cream cheese, etc. The Joint was looking pretty darned festive!! Barbara – thank you, thank you, thank you.

But this was a bowling event and Barbara’s husband Howard had everything arranged. There would be three games on seven rinks with each person having a new team each game. At around, 9:30 the action began with the first game. Then came lunch – we gathered around the table and just had a good time chatting with old friends and making some new ones. But this day was about the bowling.

After lunch came two more games, each with different teammates. At the end of each game, every player’s score was tallied. In the end, every player was a separate entity and anyone could win one of the cash prizes.

Oh, yea, we did break between game 2 and 3 for an ice cream break. But the day was about the bowling. As fate would have it, two of the top Berkeley bowlers were at the top of the list and, when it came to the third game, the draw had them facing each other. Nikki Schrager and Jim Corr and their teammates faced off on rink one. It was a close game all the way to the last end. Jim was up 3 and Jim was at the mat trying to break up a cluster of points. His shot veered off to one side and that left Nikki holding three points with one bowl to go. A hush fell over the crowd (almost), as Nikki rolled her final bowl. OMG! She did it; she scored the fourth point to garner the win in that final game.

For the day, Nikki was the #1 money winner. Congratulations, Nikki.

As for me, I came in in the middle of the pack and won’t have to worry about where to spend my winnings. I do, however, get to enjoy the rewards of a great day of lawn bowling. Please come an join us!

Filed under: Members, Special Events, Tournaments by Dave Rockhold, April 15, 2012

Pairs at Berkeley will be on October 15. Let’s have a good turn out! Sign up in the clubhouse or email gary@garyknox.us

Closing Day (already?) is on October 22. A signup sheet is available in the clubhouse. These are always good events with this year’s being held at San Francisco LBC. No pressure, just a chance to bowl with some of the divisions best – and nicest – bowlers.

Filed under: Special Events, Tournaments by Dave Rockhold, September 30, 2011

Our heat wave gave way to more typical Berkeley weather so we were able to enjoy the cool fall morning today as twelve members competed for the annual Two Bowl Singles title.

After the morning rounds, four bowlers – John Spiers, Dave Rockhold, Gary Knox, and Phil Grattan – competed in semi-final and final matches. In the final match, Phil scored the winning point on the final end – even though it was Dave’s birthday. Congratulations, Phil.

Thanks to Gary Knox for all the planning, scoring and rink setup. Thanks, too, to Linnea Gershenberg and my wife Barbara for the “surprise” birthday lunch complete with awesome birthday cake.

Filed under: Members, Special Events, Tournaments by Dave Rockhold, September 25, 2011

Today was our monthly birthday celebration. This one, though, was special! Not only did we have the chance to honor one of our own, Ted Crum, with Life Membership, we celebrated the return of the Meat Axe trophy. Ted was 90 years young this month. We also celebrated the birthdays of Gerard Lazo and Jerry Leech. President Geoff Chandler event provided a bit of bubbly (Prosecco, that is) to make the event more festive. Thanks to all who brought food and to Barbara and Howard Mackey for all the decorations. Photos of today’s event can be seen on Picasa (click here)

Filed under: Members, Special Events, Tournaments by Dave Rockhold, August 29, 2011

BLBC played host to 40 of the Bay Area’s keenest bowlers on Saturday, July 23, competing in the Pacific Inter-Mountain Division’s “Mixed 2 x 2” Tournament. This format involves four bowlers on each team, comprised of two men and two women—a good example of the egalitarian nature of the game of bowls.

No one managed a clean sweep, but over the course of four 8-end games, the team skipped by Reggie Benares and which included her husband, Andre, along with Gerry Roliz and Mary Kung, won the day. Rod (skip) and Rita Arriaga plus Al and Cheryl Minvielle took second place, while another dual husband and wife grouping—Al (skip) and Johanna Smith playing with Dick and Sally Ruddy—came in third. Fourth place was taken by yet another husband/wife combo; Ed (skip) and Pauline de Assis, with Mike Clancy and Diane Wong.

Hard to say whether a good marriage = good bowling or vice versa, but it certainly seems a winning combination. Congratulations to the winners shown below.

Filed under: Special Events, Tournaments by Dave Rockhold, July 26, 2011

Last Saturday, the good folks from Leisure Town LBC (near Vacaville) made the trip from the sweltering heat of the central valley to the slightly cooler-than-average Berkeley LBC for what we call a “home-on-home” match. These are friendly matches between old friends with a few new friends thrown in for excitement. This year, Berkeley brought some new members into the fray. In the morning, it looked really good for Berkeley as we won two of the three games. After lunch, things got a little dicey, though… In the end, it was a nine-nine tie based on winning points. So, you settle these things with a duel; drawn bowls at twenty paces (Not!). You settle these things by using what we call “plus points”. These points come from the difference between the winning and losing team’s score. As it turns out, Berkeley won the match by a few points but we all won by having a great day on the green. We rewarded ourselves and the losers with good, old-fashioned Drumsticks ice cream. We even had a few newcomers try the game out during the tournament.

Filed under: Special Events, Tournaments by Dave Rockhold, July 12, 2011

Last week, a reporter from the Berkeley Patch eNewspaper visited the club to film a video about lawn bowling. Senior Coach (and chief cook and bottle washer) Ted Crum explains the game. You have to see the video to understand that line…..check it out on the links page.

Filed under: Special Events by Dave Rockhold, July 9, 2011

This Saturday will be a tournament day at BLBC. Bowlers from the Leisure Town LBC will visit Berkeley for an all day contest.

Filed under: Special Events, Tournaments by Dave Rockhold,

On Thursday, 6-16, we will be starting our summer work/bowl/pizza night. If you can come for all or just some of the event, please do. At 3 p.m., there will be a work party to clean the ditches, tidy up, trim ivy, etc. At 5 p.m., the bowling begins. Then, at around 7 the pizza arrives and we eat! ($5 donation for the pizza, please).

Filed under: Members, Special Events by Dave Rockhold, June 11, 2011