Central Bowling Club member Bruce Sayers, front left, with Lions Club of Cambridge president Elbe Moreland, Central Bowling Club president Kerry Bovey and Lion Heidi Wehrle.
The Central Bowling Club member has been named in a 12-person New Zealand team, six men and six women, to compete at the 2023 International Deaf Lawn Bowls Championships in Edinburgh, Scotland in September.
And, financially, his efforts to get there have been given a significant boost thanks to a $4000 grant from the Lions Club of Cambridge.
A separate fundraising day Bruce held at the club greens last month also attracted more than 100 people.
“It was thoroughly enjoyable,” he said of the gathering.
The team for Edinburgh was selected based on trials held in New Plymouth in October.
And now, as Bruce turns his attention towards Edinburgh, his goal is clear.
“We’re not going there just to make up the numbers. Undoubtedly, playing on the international stage takes the game to a whole other level. Put simply, I’ll be playing to win.”
Bruce knows what international competition requires.
In 2019 – just his second year of playing bowls – he represented New Zealand at the International Bowls for the Disabled World Championships in South Korea.
Bruce, who is 85 percent deaf, took up the sport when looking to “get out and do something”.
He says his parents first discovered he was deaf at around age five, as he started school.
“I’ve always been one to give everything a go, and I love that bowls is a social event in which you’re mixing with, and meeting, other people.”
He was introduced to para-bowling by Te Awamutu para-lawn bowler Lynda Bennett, and to deaf bowls by Te Awamutu’s Warwick Flintoff.
Lions Club of Cambridge president Elbe Moreland said the lions are delighted to support Bruce.
