Although they were technically bowling for dollars, the general consensus was competitors at the Yukon’s first Senior’s Carpet Bowling Tournament were really bowling for the enjoyment of the game.
“Everyone had a good time and they’d like to carry it on every year,” said Bill Simpson, the event’s organizer and president of ElderActive Recreation Association.
“They thought it was a great idea getting all the teams together.”
Included in the nine teams that competed Friday and Saturday at the Canada Games Centre were players from Atlin, Tagish and Faro, plus two from Teslin.
However, despite the large presence of teams from outside Whitehorse, a hometown team, the Crooked Rollers, went undefeated and pocketed first place’s 0 prize.
“They didn’t roll very crooked today,” quipped Simpson.
Taking second and the 0 prize was a Teslin team featuring Ben Schonewille, Sharron Anderson and Margaret Garolitz. Marg Fisher, Jim McLachlan, Dale Gibson, Mickey Fisher from Faro took third and 0 in prize money.
The Crooked Rollers’ rise to the top was not without some close calls. Facing the Rock n’ Rollers from Whitehorse Saturday morning, the Crooked bunch found themselves down six points after the first inning.
“The skip on the other team said, ‘It only takes one inning to throw a loop into that matter,’” said Dorothy Burke, skip for the Crooked Rollers. “And sure enough we got seven that inning, so we carried on from there.
“It started off being scary, but one we got our seventh point, then we were fine. We kept getting two points after that.”
The Crooked Rollers, which also includes Marge Deeks, Jean Adams and Fern Shaw, was assembled in December and surprisingly only played six games together prior to the tournament.
“Overall, we tried to stay focused and not to count our chickens before they’re hatched, pull up our socks if we’re doing badly and keep positive thoughts,” said Burke. “And we kept going.”
As a side attraction for competitors, shuffleboards in the centre’s concourse were prepared and available for bowlers to use between games.
“When they have a break and weren’t carpet bowling they could go and play shuffleboard,” said Simpson. “Shuffleboard wasn’t a tournament as such, although we did give out some small prizes. Because we had some shuffleboarders that weren’t involved in the carpet bowling and wanted to be involved in the weekend’s festivities.
“We also wanted to show the floor-shuffleboards to the community because they haven’t shown it to the communities to see if they’re interested doing shuffleboard.
“They’re totally different games but they work well side-by-side because they’re both easy to play and most seniors can play both.”
Seniors are welcome to carpet bowl Wednesday mornings at the Canada Games Centre. The mornings also include shuffleboard, table tennis and other activities. More information can be found at www. yukon-seniors-and-elders.org.
Contact Tom Patrick at
tomp@yukon-news.com