The End of Another Year

The 2013 Bowling Season ended with a bang. And a party and a Santa. It started in the morning when the bowlers (and committee) embraced Theme Day with a vengeance.

Christmas Theme, for everybody!

...even the Committee.

Winners of Best Costume: Natham and Karina

It didn't end with the bowling. That afternoon/evening we held the Presentation Dinner / Christmas Party. Rugs were cut. During the Presentation Dinner, the Captains for 2014 were announced, selected by a vote from the bowlers.

Pretty. Where's the Snow?

Put Your Left Foot In...

Outgoing Captains (Adam and Tayla) hand the batons to 2014 Captains (Mark and Emma). Congratulations!

And this guy showed up. Ho-Ho-Ho!

Ron's Trip

Past President and current Bowler Support Ron Crompton took a well-deserved break and headed to the top end. Pictures and narrative follow:

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On the 15th September myself & my friend headed north to South Mission Beach for a 10 day holiday and catch up with some of my friends' mates who are on a 2 year trip around Australia.

Our first stop was Gunnedah, a small town ,but the people in the caravan park were very friendly. We did manage to make it rain, so the locals were happy.

Next night we stayed in Goondiwindi, a nice park, but a storm hit with heavy rain and lightning. It was great being in the heated pool while the storm passed over us. [editor note: Don't try this at home, kids - lightning LOVES water.]

The third night was in a Town called Roma. In camp next to us was a man from the Gold Coast who travelled to Roma every Tuesday selling fish, prawns and oysters. The prawns were great.

The fourth night we stayed in Emerald,  a big town mainly because of the mining.

Our final stop before South Mission beach was Charters Towers. It was very hot 43 degrees. The pool was great.

We then travelled to South Mission beach it was a great ten days of laying about swimming & sight seeing.

We travelled to Cairns and onto the Kuranda Scenic Railway line .Just amazing to think how they built in those very early days, the scenery was a amazing. Falling over the edge was not a good option - it was a long drop to the bottom of the valley.

It was an amazing holiday with lots to see, including a Cassowary on our very last day at South Mission Beach. They are amazing.

Then, back to home and reality.

Cassowary on a stroll

Beautiful Beach

There be COWS!!

Totally, dude.

Biggest danged gecko I've ever seen

Beautiful, bucolic scene

Landie and my home away from home

It's a looooooong way down

What a weekend of Bowling...

WHAT A TALENTED BUNCH OF BOWLERS WE HAVE IN THE HORNSBY ROCKETS

Seventeen bowlers attended in the NSW TBA State Disability Championships 2013 held at Bateau Bay on Saturday 9th November and they came home with 30 medals and 4 trophies.

Six bowlers then came back to Bateau Bay today (Sunday 10th November) to play in the Masters Competition.

In this competition Karina Peters and Tim Wilson received a trophy for 2nd place while Ben Barber and Emma Crompton received a trophy for 3rd place.  Adam Mandarano and Natham Constable received medals. There was stiff competition and all  bowlers played exceptionally well.

Many of the other clubs made comment to me personally about the good sportsmanship and manners the Hornsby Rockets showed.

WELL DONE HORNSBY ROCKETS

Lesley Constable

Strathfield Comp - What a Show!

We took a happy group of bowlers (and support squad) to Strathfield AMF for their Invitational (and as usual, they were fantastic hosts), and we had some PHENOMENAL results.

Teams:

•  Kevin McPherson scored himself a 5 bagger

Doubles:

• Mark Milner = 4 bagger
• Adam Mandarano = 4 bagger
• Nick Marsionis = turkey
• Declan O'Connor = turkey
• Mark Lagden = 5 bagger
• Ben Barber = turkey

Singles:

• Mark Milner = 4 bagger
• Karina Peters = turkey

And, to top it all off, Mark Langdon's Singles score of 223. Fantastic!

Well done ALL bowlers. You did Hornsby Rockets proud.

A Trip Halfway Around the World

Today's post is from Karina, recounting her trip - by sea - from Italy back to Sydney.

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In Trieste, with family

Recently mum, dad and myself went on a 45 day cruise on the Dawn Princess.  The ship sailed from Venice on 26th August but before we left we caught the train from Venice to Trieste so that I could meet some of my mother’s family.


Our first port stop was Koper in Slovenia, then Split in Croatia, Mykonos in Greece, Istanbul in Turkey, Naples, Rome, Florence (all in Italy). Cannes and Marseille in France, Barcelona in Spain, Valletta in Malta, Aqaba in Jordan, Salalah in Oman Mumbai in India, Colombo in Sri Lanka, Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia, Darwin and then finally Sydney on 11th October.

One of my favourite places was the drive along the Amalfi Coast In Italy even though it was very scary at times as the road was very narrow and cars and buses could not  pass each other at times but the scenery was spectacular!

Dad on a camel

Also in Aqaba and Oman seeing the camels roam around was amazing.


On board the ship I ate a lot, watched “Movies under the stars” (with popcorn), watched the entertainers in the shows, I took part in the Zumba classes and the Line Dancing, attended the Zumba Party and The Equator Party and played lots of Yatzee and other activities.

I also performed in the musical “Grease” with some of the other passengers that the DJ, James, put together.  I played the part of an Angel and we had a great time.

Pisa

In Darwin we went Ten Pin Bowling and saw some of the bowlers that attend the Nationals Competition.

The weather was great but very hot and humid at times (High 30 – 40 degrees).

Dad and I are already planning the next cruise.

I did miss all my bowling friends though and am glad to be back home.

At Roussillon

Karina Peters

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Thanks Karina. I'm envious. That looked like a great trip.

A Tantalising Glimpse

A couple of pictures from the Peters' month-and-a-half long cruise.

I'll hound them and see if I can get more. (Details about where Karina and Anna actually are in these pictures will be added later. Looks beautiful.

Good Luck to the Multi-Talented Lucy!

Lucy Dumitrescu doesn't just bowl. She will be swimming against the top Australian and  NZ swimmers this coming weekend (28th/29th September) in the 2nd Down Syndrome National Swimming Competition.

If you've got time this weekend, stop by Knox Grammar School and cheer her on. More details can be found here.

Good luck, Lucy!

Good Luck Candice!

Please wish Candice good luck!

She will be travelling to the Australian Adult Championships in Townsville on October 2. She'll spend ten days up there participating in the Team Challenge for NSW.

Best of Luck Candice. May you have many turkeys!

Welcome the New and Thank the Outgoing...

Hornsby Rocket's held their Annual General Meeting on the 14th of September. Among other items for discussion, the new Committee was elected. Please congratulate (and thank)

President:  Lesley Constable

Vice-President: Lucy Mandarano

Secretary: Tony McFadden

Treasurer: Annette Seymour

Committee members:  Natham Constable; David Orr; Karina Peters

...and thank Ron and Jill for all of their efforts.

Notice of the 2013 Annual General Meeting

All members are invited to attend the

2013 Annual General Meeting

of

Hornsby Rockets Ten Pin Bowling Team Inc 

Saturday, 14^th September, 2013

at 11.30 am

at Office Works, George Street, Hornsby  
(meeting room, first floor)

Official business

• At this meeting, the current Committee members and office bearers will stand down and a new Committee and office bearers will be elected. 
• A motion will be put to confirm the minutes of the last  Annual General Meeting
• The Hornsby Rockets Annual Report and Accounts will be tabled.

Nominations: 

Nominations for three Committee members and the executive positions of

President

Vice-President

Secretary

Treasurer

must be received by the Secretary by 7th September, 2013

A nomination form has been emailed to all members - additional forms can be obtained from the Secretary, Jill O'Connor

More photos from Gold Greek Station, ACT

How to hold a sheep without getting kicked ...

In the woolshed ...

Lunch is about to be served ... the roaring open fire was a welcome respite from Canberra's wintery cold.  Did we mention that lunch was brilliant?

Thanks to Anna Peters for these pictures.

Nationals medal winners

More than 400 bowlers competed in the National Disability Championship in Canberra last week - competition was robust, and many records were established!

Hornsby Rockets bowlers each bowled in two series (three games) of each singles, doubles and teams events (that's a total between 180 and 390 balls for each bowler), and our five representatives in the NSW State team had an additional day of bowling, adding significantly to their totals!

Karina Peters leaving the presentation area after receiving her silver medal

Medals were presented at AMF Tuggeranong on Saturday morning. The final tally for Hornsby Rockets bowlers was:

Men's B grade teams:
Rockets 9, Ben Barber; Tim Wilson; Kelvin Abela won bronze with 1354 pins

Men's D grade singles:
Warren Seymour won gold with 372 pins

Women's D grade singles:
Amy McFadden won gold with 330 pins
Amy McFadden won silver with 323 pins (equal with Rebecca Readshaw)
Georgette DuPille won bronze with 320 pins

All events, women's B grade:
Karina Peters won silver with 1283 pins

All events, men's A grade:
Adam Mandarano won bronze with 1519 pins

All events, men's C grade:
Natham Constable won bronze with 1209 pins

All events, men's D grade:
Warren Seymour won gold with 1087 pins

In addition, all of our NSW State team bowlers brought home a silver medal.

Congratulations to all our medallists.

Amy McFadden and Georgie DuPille with their medals

Every bowler's scores and ranking for every game/series in the Championship is now available from the Tenpin Bowling Australia website, here. You can see that some of our bowlers only just missed a medal in some events. Well done all.

Last day of bowling at the Nationals

Last day of bowling for the Hornsby Rockets today, teams this morning, doubles this afternoon. Another good day of bowling, with many over-average performances and special moments, including:

• Karina Peters opened in great style with a four bagger (four stikes in a row) in the very first game. 
• Tim Wilson bowled 5 strikes and 3 spares for a personal best game score of 196.
• Kelvin Abela included a four bagger in his personal best score of 161.
• Natham Constable bowled a Turkey to close a game with a score of 137.
• Ben Barber bowled 8 spares and one strike in a single game, scoring 177 (his average is 129).
• Adam Mandarano bowled a four bagger.

At dinner this evening, the bowlers thanked the Committee, parents and carers who organised our trip and their participation in the championship, and came along to support them, both at bowling during our free time.

Medals and trophies will be presented tomorrow morning, and then we will head home.

This has been the first time at the National Championships
for Hornsby Rockets Mark Lagden and Kelvin Abela

Today at the Nationals ... sheep, dogs, dinosaurs and bowling

All of the Rockets bowled this evening, in their second singles series. Tayla was thrilled to score a Turkey in her second game, where her game score was 143. Tomorrow will be a very full day with our second (and final) doubles and teams series.

Earlier in the day we visited Gold Creek Station on the outskirts of Canberra, got to know some sheep a little better than many of of had previously, saw a sheep being sheared, learned about how wool is classified, packed and sold, and we were delighted and entertained by Ned, and the very lively Digger, the resident working sheep dogs.  We had an excellent BBQ lunch at the Station ...

 ... and even had time for a visit to the National Dinosaur Museum on the way back.

NSW State teams win 2 second places

Today, both the NSW scratch team, and the NSW restricted team were placed second in their classes in the TBA interstate championship.

Congratulations to all NSW team members, including Hornsby Rockets Adam Mandarano (NSW Scratch Team); Mark Lagden, Natham Constable, Karina Peters and Candice Lundie (NSW Restricted Team). Adam scored 201in one game - his second 200+ score so far in this tournament!

Photos to follow.

Questing, free falling and touristing, not bowling ... in Canberra

We had a free day at the 2013 nationals today, so we visited Questacon, the National Science and Technology Centre ...

We tried a lot of activities and demonstrations of things scientific ...

And some of us took on the challenge of the 'Free Fall' - facing the fear, and doing it anyway!

Then we had time for a leisurely visit to Mt Ainslie to take in the panoramic views over our beautiful national capital, under a clear, sunny sky ... a much better view than when we tried it in the early morning fog a couple of days ago.

Tomorrow is State-State competition day ... good luck to Hornsby Rockets, Karina Peters, Candice Lundie, Natham Constable, Mark Lagden and Adam Mandarano who will be bowling for NSW.

Nationals: Day 1 for Hornsby Rockets

Adam was very pleased with
his 215 game on Sunday!

Here we are in Canberra, at the Nationals.  We're off to a good start (and an early one at 8.00 am on Sunday!), with lots of good bowling, and more to come. It's a bit cold and foggy on these winter Canberra mornings.

Tim Wilson was thrilled to score his first four bagger (four strikes in a row) for some years, and Adam Mandarano continued his recent sparkling good form, scoring  six (yes, six!) strikes in a row to round out a game score of 215!

Lots of other strikes and above average scores were bowled during our first day ... keep up the good work guys, and enjoy the competition.

We bowl again this afternoon, so wish us luck!

• National Disabilities Championship now underway in Canberra, TBA, 8th June 2013

• National Disabled Ten-Pin Bowling Championships on ABC News ACT, Saturday 8th June 2013

We're off to the 2013 Australian National Disability Championships!

Twenty Hornsby Rockets bowlers are heading off to Canberra tomorrow to compete in the 25th National Disability Championship.

They will each bowl 2 series of singles, doubles and teams, and five bowlers will also bowl for NSW in the interstate championship. The championship runs over a week,and we will be back late next Saturday.

Good luck and good bowling to:
Declan O'Connor; Warren Seymour; Natham Constable (State Team); David Hunter; Mark Milner; Mark Lagden (State Team); Adam Mandarano (State Team); Candice Lundie (State Team); Karina Peters (State Team); Amy McFadden; Angela Moxham; Nick Marsionis; Stephen Smith; Tim Wilson; Georgie DuPille; Emma Crompton; Emma Matthews; Kelvin Abela; Tayla Walley; Ben Barber

And look who features on the TBA web page about this event:

Meantime, there will be no bowling this Saturday, 8th June (because of the long weekend), and regular bowling will resume next Saturday (15th) under the supervision of Committee members Maggie DuPille ad David Orr.

Blind and Vision Impaired Tenpin Bowling: National Tournament Perth

The B.V.I.T. 2013 National Tournament was held in Perth WA from 15th - 18th April at AMF Cannington, south of Perth. Twenty two bowlers from Western Australia, Victoria and New South Wales attended. 

NSW was represented by Glen Barwick (B2) Donna Holland (B2) and Tim Wilson (B3), who also bowls with Hornsby Rockets. 

Format of the competition was: 
Day 1 15/04 Singles 6 games
Day 2 16/04 Quads 4 games
Day 3 17/04 Doubles 6 games
Day 4 18/04 Trios 4 Games 

The presentation dinner was held Thursday evening at the Good Earth Hotel in East Perth, with presentations proceeding through dinner. The NSW team retained the B.V.I.T. State Shield for the second year in a row.

Rockets representative Tim Wilson did very well with his highest score being 172 and coming away with 3 medals:

• Gold in B3 Male Handicap Singles 
• Gold in B3 Handicap Trios 
• Silver B3 Male Handicap All Events 

Congratulations Tim, and to Donna and Glen.

The Perth Tournament ran very smoothly with friendly competition and the bowlers having an enjoyable time. Thanks to all concerned.

 

Footnote: Perth B.V.I.T.'s newest bowler is 87 year old Betty, who won a cluster of medals and enjoyed herself. The journey has just begun.