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

2012′s First Tournament

After a few weeks of rain, it was a welcome relief to see the sun shining on Saturday morning. There wasn’t even that much dew, the air was crisp and I knew we would have a great day. The whole green was in use as fourteen bowlers signed up for the annual four bowl singles tournament. The green itself is in very good shape thanks to the efforts of our greenskeeper and those club members who occasionally volunteer to help with the weeding, sanding, etc.

You can’t say lawn bowling isn’t for all ages as the spread was from mid twenties to late eighties. Everyone who bowled played in the first two games which were to 15 points with a 12-end limit (for time’s sake). After the morning session, five players had won both of their morning matches so it came down to points differential to see who would bowl in the semi- final round. So after lunch, four bowlers stepped on the mat; Shawn Roney, Erwin Vista, Jim Corr, and Howard Mackey. These two games were also in the short format and the winners emerged – Erwin Vista and Howard Mackey.

Erwin is a fairly new member of the club while Howard has been around long enough to have been greenskeeper, president, janitor, etc. So it was experience vs. youth in the final game to 21 points. In the end, Howard Mackey was the winner. This ever-young 86 year-old former teacher is seen third from right in the photo below displaying one of his always present smiles. Congratulations Howard. By the way, the other players shown are Jim Corr (L), Erwin Vista, Howard, and Shawn Roney. Shawn, by the way, is a novice – he has been bowling for less than two years!

Here’s to a fantastic season. Oh, and thanks to Barbara Mackey and Geoff Chandler for serving as Markers.

Four Bowl Singles Finalists with Howard Mackey, winner, 3rd from right

Filed under: Members, Tournaments by Dave Rockhold, April 9, 2012

The 2012 season schedule for the is now available by following this link.

2012_Schedule

We encourage new bowlers to play in tournaments. There are lots of great bowlers out there and it’s always fun to try a new venue. Opening Day is just around the corner!!!

Filed under: Members, Tournaments by Dave Rockhold, January 18, 2012

Laura Lewis and Andrew Stapleton topped a strong field of bowlers to take the BLBC 2011 Club Pairs title. Eight teams composed of skips (pre-selected by Tournament Director, Gary Knox) and leads (randomly drawn by each skip in turn) competed on Saturday October 15. Three teams won both their morning games (Jim Corr/Gary Knox, Dave Rockhold/Shawn Roney, and Lewis/Stapleton) and were joined by the best placed one game winners (Howard Mackey/Phil Grattan) in the semifinals. The pairs of Lewis/Stapleton and Corr/Knox advanced to and fought a keenly-contested final. With Laura and Andy commanding a substantial 4-point lead going into the last end, Jim added an element of suspense by “burning” the end with his last bowl, forcing the end to be replayed. However, Laura and Andy held on to win with a final score of 13-8. Congratulations to both!

After the game, we fired up the BarBQ and kicked back over a meal. It seems like a fitting end to the 2011 club tournament season. Special thanks to Gary Knox for all his careful planning and extra effort to set up the rinks, prepare score cards, and keep us under control. Good job, Gary!

Thanks, too, to novices Ann Gardinier and Shawn Roney who played in today’s tournament. They were a welcome addition to the event.

So, everyone get out there and practice! The 2012 season isn’t far off. Closing day is Saturday, Oct. 22 at San Francisco LBC.

Filed under: Members, Tournaments by Dave Rockhold, October 16, 2011

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

We like to say in bowls: “If you can’t be good, be lucky!” Of course, if you can be both good and lucky, that’s a sure-fire winning combination, and that propelled Cathy Dinnean to this year’s BLBC 4-Bowls Singles Champion. The little bit of “luck” came on Saturday, when, after the round-robin stage of the tournament, Jim Corr, Dave Rockhold, Mark Gurling, and Gary Knox led the pack. However, due to other commitments, Mark could not play on Sunday, and Cathy, lying fifth, moved into the vacant semifinal place. On Sunday, she showed the “good” side, running up an early lead in her match against Jim Corr. Although Jim caught up to 14-14, Cathy stayed the course to emerge a deserved 16-14 winner. In the final—Dave having defeated Gary in the other semi—the pattern held true. Cathy got out to a quick start, Dave gradually made up ground, and at one point even took the lead at 16-14. But this was an 18-point game and Cathy held her nerve, bowled excellently, and came through victorious at 18-16. Good bowling all round and a worthy 2011 Champion. Congratulations, Cathy! (by Jim Corr)

Filed under: Tournaments by Dave Rockhold, July 18, 2011