Cooper and team are Aussie champs
TOMINGLEY teen Cooper Dart was part of the NSW Combined High Schools (CHS) lawn bowls squad that won the inaugural School Sport Australia (SSA) Championships last month in Melbourne.
With members ranging in age from 13 to 18 years, the 15-member, five-a-side, mixed squad dominated the competition against their Victorian opponents, defeating them soundly by 49.5 to 22.5 at the event held between September 14 – 16.
It was the very first SSA lawn bowls championship to be held, meaning Cooper and his 14 NSW CHS colleagues have created history as the inaugural tournament winners.
Fourteen-year-old Cooper said he really enjoyed playing in the championships.
“It was a good event and a lot of fun. Everyone was nice and encouraging,” he said.
“We played five rounds and in the first round we ended up losing, but after that we won every single round,” Cooper said.
Gavin Holburn is the national sports advisor with SSA for bowls, and also in charge of the NSW CHS team. Although not directly involved with the NSW team while performing his over-arching SSA role at the event, Gavin was thrilled to see the NSW team come away with the win.
“To be so dominant, it was surprising,” he said.
“When you look at the individual results, there were lots of very close games going down to one shot difference or a draw. NSW won all the close games.
“This was the first event after COVID for many of the team members and they were over the moon to win an Australian medal,” Gavin said.
This level of competition is currently the highest that CHS students can participate in within Australia. There is no international competition at this level but ten players were selected as the best in the country.
“He doesn’t know this but Cooper was probably the next player in line for all-australian merit selection. We picked ten and he was just outside that top ten,” Gavin said.
High praise indeed for young Cooper, who has the world ahead of him in the sport he clearly loves.
Cooper told the Narromine Star that his competitive school bowls has now finished for the year and will start up again in the new year. But there’s no rest for the teen sensation as he heads straight into the club bowls championships in Dubbo. Cooper has been a member of the West Dubbo Bowling Club since he first took up the sport locally at age 10.
Proud dad Gavin Dart told the Narromine Star that there’s not really an “off-season” with bowls. It can be played year round as a club sport and social bowls.
Gavin and Kelly Dart accompanied Cooper to Melbourne for the championships and were able to watch their son compete.
“It was a good week away. The competition between NSW and Victoria was very good,” Gavin said.
Seeing their son win the Australian championships with the NSW squad was also a very special moment for Gavin and Kelly.
“To see him get a gold medal, it was wonderful,” Gavin said.
President of the West Dubbo Bowls Club, Glen Morrison, said Cooper’s success at the Australian SSA Championships was “absolutely fantastic”.
“Cooper’s a terrific young man and we’re very proud of him,” he said, indicating the club has about ten juniors currently playing bowls in the club’s junior program.
Glen said the club provides junior scholarships that help with some of the costs of young people playing lawn bowls while still at school, including a set of bowls. Cooper is a recipient of one of these scholarships.
“The bowls were bigger than him when he started here,” Glen laughed. “He’s shot up a bit since then.
“We hope Cooper continues to play and that he’ll continue to do well,” Glen said.
Cooper and his family expressed their sincere thanks and appreciation to the sponsors in several communities that made the trip to Melbourne possible last month.
Support was provided by Tomingley Gold Operations in Cooper’s hometown, the Peak Hill Aboriginal Medical Service Incorporated in the town where he goes to school, and Club Dubbo, home of the West Dubbo Bowling Club.
If you or your family have thought about taking up lawn bowls for social or competitive interest, there are clubs in Dubbo, Narromine and Trangie that would love to welcome you to their greens.