Shelby trials for state

Originally published in The Nyngan Weekly

Local young bowler Shelby Powell will trial for the state bowls team next week. The Nyngan High School student will travel to Sydney next week to compete in the combined high schools competition in the western team for three days before joining a two day state team trial.

"The school does a thing where you can play triples and get through to Orange but I didn't get through, so I was able to just go by myself. If you do good there a few people get picked to go to western which is in Sydney, so my western team will play against other teams there.”

Shelby was asked to participate in state trials last year, but they were cancelled due to COVID-19 restrictions coming back into place. As such she was invited to return this year to trial again.

If successful in her state trial, Shelby will represent NSW in a competition against Queensland. Shelby will be competing against 11 other girls for eight team spots.

Though initially hesitant to pursue bowls when she began a few years ago, some encouragement from her dad Baden helped her to get further involved in the sport. Since then, Shelby has flourish and now hopes to make a career out of bowls.

Shelby said the Nyngan Bowling Club has been a huge support of her over the years, including assistance in a recent raffle to help raise funds for the state trials trip. The club is very proud of her efforts and has supported her growth.

Despite a bit of a reputation for attracting older athletes, Shelby said she competes with plenty of people her age in Dubbo and doesn't mind when she is the youngest.

"It actually doesn't really bother me because everyone I play with, they're just so nice. I play more in Dubbo now with zones, so I'm playing with kids my age and then every now and then on a weekend I'll play like championships with the ladies or the men.”

Shelby said that meeting new people and the bowls community as a whole is one of the things that has kept her returning to the sport.

"I like meeting new people. They're all just so nice, and it's different to the kids in Nyngan, it's just cool meeting new people and knowing that they love bowls too.

"For instance, like on a lunchtime break, all of us will go get a little gang together and we'll all just walk up to wherever to eat and chill, and talk about bowls at home," she said.

Shelby is hoping the three days competing for western before the trial starts will help get her in the right mindset for states.

"I'm a little bit nervous but I'll have three days of western before it. I'm playing with sort of the same people too, most of the people on the western team did get through [to state trials] as well, so I'll know people there."

Shelby said the western team has organised to stay together during the trip too.

She said it helps to ease the nerves a bit and is a good sign of how nice the bowls community is. And her bowling community extends past just those she plays with.

Shelby said that she's had people from across the region come up to her and chat about her bowling and showing their support.

"It's really good. It's comforting actually, in a way."