Mark Taylor’s stunning victory in the Bay junior singles championship as a first-year bowler showed that practice makes perfect.

The minute Taylor signed up as a full-playing member at the Matua club on July 1 last year, he practised almost every day for two hours even when it wasn’t raining too hard, though his session may have been shortened.

He had previously played the Friday roll-ups with his mother Lynne who has bowled for 30 years, but couldn’t wait having full access to the club when he paid his subscription.

Taylor, pictured right, videoed himself by placing his mobile on his bowling bag behind the rink at different angles and made adjustments to his delivery when he needed to.

“I’m quite methodical and yes, I’m self-coached. I watched You Tube clips. I wanted to get as good as I could. I was bowling a bit narrow and at times I would be short especially on long ends. Was it my arm motion or stepping out?

“I wasn’t following through enough so I changed my action. It was all about touch. I wanted to follow through right under my eyes to get the timing right, and I improved a lot in the two months before the singles championship.”

He was hardly touched in the Bay tournament. Taylor overwhelmed Katikati’s Jack Stewart 21-9 in the semi-finals, after picking up two threes, two twos and three singles over the closing ends to romp away from a deficit of 8-9.

Campny had beaten Matua’s Paul Page 21-9 in the other semi-final after leading 7-0, 11-2, 15-5 and 18-7.

Taylor then beat fifth-year player Chris Campny (Tauranga South) 21-13 in the final. Again, the match was tight at 10-7 after 10 ends but Taylor collected two threes to take a match-winning lead of 17-8 after 14 ends.

“The victory exceeded my expectations, a first-year bowler playing Bay representatives and recognised players,” said the 56-year-old Taylor. “I wanted to get through qualifying and see what happens.

“I am pretty confident and the Mount greens suited me and my bowls (he uses his father’s Drake Pride Professionals). I love the curl on the draw and the fact they are not narrow.

“Much of the games went very much the same. I was in a confident mood and I drew nicely. That’s just the way I felt. My opponents ran into the head and started missing and I accelerated away.

“In the final, I had no nerves or jitters and it was one of those days that I felt I could do nothing wrong. In the long run, I outdrew Chris,” Taylor said.

Originally from Taranaki, Taylor spent 17 years in the UK working as an IT consultant specialising in financial data. In between jobs, he would go walking and amongst his exploits he completed the 17-day, 268-mile Pennine Way national trail in England and Scotland.

He moved back to Tauranga in December 2023 and became “addicted to bowls. I want to get into the Bay representative side.”

Rachelle Morrison (Omokoroa) continued her fine season by winning the Bay junior women’s singles and capturing her second centre title. She had earlier won the champion of champions triples.

Morrison beat Tauranga South’s Mary Banks 21-11 in the final after grabbing a handy advantage midway through the game with a succession of six shots to lead 11-5.

The match closed at 14-9 after 12 ends but Morrison picked up a four and two singles to take an unmatchable 20-9 lead.

In the semi-finals, Morrison beat Whakatane’s Aroha Crichton 21-10, and Banks overcame Ohope’s Karen Hubbard 21-16.

The quarter-finals of the men’s singles were: Stewart 21 Steve Wallace (Turangi) 14; Taylor 21 Jeff Meekings (Omokoroa) 13; Pager 20 Paul Eaton (Mount Maunganui) 19; Campny 21 Bill Morrison (Omokoroa) 5.

Article added: Thursday 08 May 2025