Zach finds his sweet spot on the mat
He uses a white stick when he walks to school and reads in braille, but being visually impaired hasn’t stopped 11-year-old Zach Graham bowling his way to success at his very first AIMS Games in Tauranga.
Zach is competing in indoor bowls, and is part of a team of seven players from Highlands Intermediate School in New Plymouth.
He competes equally against other competitors, with the only difference being that the balls he uses are brightly coloured as his vision means that he cannot see the standard balls, which are black and brown.
He fell in love with the sport last year when he played in a blind bowls event in Taranaki, and was delighted when he started intermediate school and discovered that it was a sport on offer to all students.
‘‘I like bowls as a sport because I enjoy the suspense of it,’’ he said. ‘‘It can be nail-biting right up to the end.’’
His was certainly a game that kept mum Catherine Graham on the edge of her seat yesterday.
Zach was the only one from his school to qualify for the knockout stage, and it came down to the final bowl, which unfortunately Zach lost.
‘‘We still have the doubles to come on Thursday, so I’m excited about that as I will be playing with a partner from my school,’’ he said.
Bowls runs in the family, as Catherine recalls Zach’s greatgreat-grandfather playing until he was 90 years old.
‘‘I don’t think there is the stigma now that it is just an old people’s sport,’’ she said.
‘‘It’s fun and the kids are really into it. For Zach in particular it is a safe sport to play and the fact that he plays on the same level as the others is empowering.’’
Zach explained he had always had low vision since he was born.
‘‘I call myself visually impaired or low vision because I don’t like the term blind,’’ he said. ‘‘I am long-sighted with vision about eight times worse than the average person. Everything is more blurry, and I can’t see in the dark or low light.’’