Visually Impaired Bowls England National Indoor Pairs
Nottingham Indoor Bowls Centre
18-19 February 2017
Nottingham Indoor Bowls Centre hosted the National Indoor Pairs tournament for
36 visually impaired bowlers from across England on 18-19 February 2017.
Visually Impaired Bowls England (VIBE)
Visually Impaired Bowls England is made up of more than 50 member clubs, and
has more than 600 members. It was originally formed in 1975 - to provide, or to
assist in the provision of, facilities to encourage visually impaired persons to play
the game of bowls so that their conditions of life may be improved - the
organisation is looked upon as one of the world leaders for blind bowls.
The organisation is run by volunteers who are elected at the Annual General
Meeting. It is responsible for organising bowls tournaments throughout England
and is the official body for selecting teams to represent England in international
events.
For more information see www.vibowlsengland.org.uk
Visually Impaired Bowls
As many people have enquired how visually impaired people play bowls, this is
described below.
Visually impaired bowlers in the UK are graded into four main sight categories:
B1 No light perception in either eye up to light perception but no recognition of
hand movements at any distance or any direction
B2 From the ability to recognise hand movements up to a visual acuity of no
better than 2/60 (Snellen)
B3 From a visual acuity of better than 2/60 (Snellen) up to a visual acuity of no
better than 6/60 (Snellen)
B4 A visual acuity of better than 6/60 (Snellen) up to a visual acuity of no better
than 6/24 (Snellen) and/or a visual field of less than 20 degrees.
Low visual aids (monoculars) can be used by players to assess the head before
stepping on to the mat to deliver a bowl. Binoculars are not permitted unless one
lens was blacked off, and had been checked by the Umpire.
Directors and markers
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A director is a sighted person to assist the bowler. The director remains at
the mat end until the last wood is played, except when inspection of the head
is thought necessary. The director may assist the player with the strategy of
the game.
•
The marker is a sighted person standing at the head.
The game
String
A thin white string running from ditch to ditch is placed along the centre of the
rink, under the mat.
Mat
The mat must be placed two metres from the back ditch. The distance between
the front edge of the mat and the jack must be a minimum of 23 metres (25
yards).
Jack
On the first end of each game the jack is placed 30 yards from the front edge of
the mat. If a player kills an end one shot will be awarded to the opposing pair.
Calling back
At the start of each end following the first, the Marker paces out the distance in
yards that the correctly delivered jack had travelled. After each bowl had been
delivered and comes to rest, the Marker steps out the distance and calls back to
the Bowler/Director using the clock system to help the bowlers build up a mental
picture of the head. However the clock is always the right way up for the bowler
i.e. the bowler is at 6 o’clock, behind the marker is 12 o’clock.
!
•
The jack is always at the centre of the clock, so if the jack moves, the clock
moves with it.
•
The position of the bowl is given using the clock face and the distance is the
gap between the jack and the bowl e.g. “2 feet at 4 o’clock”.
•
If jack moves back, the marker says e.g. “the jack moved back 2 yards and
is now at 32 yards and 12” to your right, your bowl ended up at 8 o’clock 1
foot”.
•
If bowl comes off another bowl, the marker says e.g. “after coming off the
8’clock bowl, your wood ended up at 11 o’clock 6 inches and is shot”.
•
If bowl comes off another bowl and moves jack, the marker says e.g. “after
coming off the 8 o’clock bowl, the jack moved back 9 inches and 4 inches to
the right, your bowl ended up at 7 o’clock 2 inches”.
•
If jack goes off the rink in the 12 o’clock ditch the marker says e.g. “jack off
the rink at 11 o’clock. If the jack goes off the rink to the side i.e. bowler kills
the end, the marker says “off the rink at e.g. 8 o’clock” and this is one shot
to the opposing pair.
Shot count
Skips or Directors agree the number of shots.
VIBE National Indoor Pairs 2017
All matches were played according to the rules of the game as laid down by the
English Indoor Bowls Association, except where anomalies arose due to the
exceptional circumstances of visually impaired bowlers.
The tournament was played in a round robin format with two points being
awarded for a win, and one point for a draw. Matches in the group stages and
quarter/semi-finals were of 1hr and 30 minutes duration. One shot only was
awarded in the first two ends of each match.
Bowlers playing as B1’s were required to wear regulation blacked out glasses and
had a two shot start in each game. Bowlers playing as B4+ were required to give
the opposing pair two shots in each game.
Results
Main competition winners
Left: Tournament sponsor Hazel Quayle, along
with the Nottingham IBC Men’s President, present
winners’ medals to Dave Wood and Phil Dutton
(Taunton Deane)
Main competition runners up
Right: Runners-up Henry Edwards and
Chris Turnbull (Preston)
Plate winners
Left: Plate Winners
Chris Price (Hastings) and Reg Williams
(Bedford)
Plate runners-up
Right: Runner-up in the ‘Plate’ competition, Jean
Fow with her husband. Partner Peter Smallman
had dashed off for his train!
Highest scoring B1 bowler
Amit Amin receiving trophy from Gay Worden
Thanks
Visually Impaired Bowls England (VIBE) were very grateful to the Board and
members of the club for allowing them use of our greens during the winter
season; and to Hazel Quayle for sponsoring the tournament.
!
Thanks were also given to all the people who gave their help during the
tournament, this included:
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•
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•
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David Mears and Doreen Metcalf (VIBE) in relation to the bowlers and
tournament
Moira Horriben for arranging Umpires and markers
Brian Thomas (Erewash Indoor Bowls Club) for arranging markers
Judi and Paul Fowler for arranging and co-ordinating markers and score
board operators
Markers from Umpires, NIBC and Erewash Indoor Bowls Club
NIBC members for operating the score boards
Kitchen and bar staff for the food and refreshments
NIBC staff
VIBE said they can’t do it without you!
Left: VIBE Chairman David
Mears and Doreen Metcalf
present ‘thank-you’ flowers to
Moira Horriben and Judi Fowler
Right: VIBE Chairman David Mears and
Doreen Metcalf present ‘thank-you’ flowers to
Shirley Ellis
Left: VIBE Chairman David Mears and Doreen
Metcalf present ‘thank-you’ flowers to Liz for
the raffle
Overall this was a successful and enjoyable tournament and VIBE have booked to
hold this event at Nottingham Indoor Bowls Centre again in February 2018.