Bowling career rolling on for Sarah Ashby
For an athlete that chooses to make small goals at a time, the bowling career of Drouin’s Sarah Ashby is starting to take off at a rapid rate.
Having only played the sport for two years, Sarah formed part of the Victorian under 18 team to comfortably account for Tasmania in an annual test series held in Deer Park recently.
Sarah, who was encouraged by family members to take up the sport, has progressed rapidly with her first state selection coming in just two years.
Sarah said she had been selected after being invited to trial among a large number of boys and girls from across the state at Shepparton in June, with seven boys and seven girls picked to represent the state in the tests.
She said she had been selected to trial following several tournaments under the auspice of the Victorian under 18 development squad.
Following tournaments at Tocumwal and Melbourne Bowling Club, Bowls Victoria watched the development of squad bowlers during the under 18 state championships held during the school holidays in April.
Sarah said selectors not only looked for performance, but also attitude and sportsmanship.
Sarah bowled well in the series, which was held over three days, helping the girls to a 6-0 clean sweep over their Tasmanian rivals.
With the boys leading 4-2 to give the Victorians an unassailable lead, a friendly game of mixed bowls was played to finish the test series.
To give variety to the tests, Sarah said a different format of bowls was played each day.
While Sarah practices and plays in tournaments at her home club at Drouin, she plays pennant with the Clayton Bowling Club, where her bowling has progressed rapidly under the watchful eye of New Zealand international lawn and indoor bowler Ali Forsyth.
Her development under Forsyth has grown so rapidly, Victorian coach Mark Cowan couldn’t believe her improvement in the past 12 months of bowling.
While lawn bowls is predominantly a summer sport, Sarah will take part in Bowls Victoria events over the school holidays in an initiative to keep the squad bowling.
Leading up to trials and series, Sarah trains twice a week.
Sarah hopes to win an invite to trial for the national championships during the September school holidays.