Mandy is a bowling inspiration

WENTWORTH Bowling Club’s (WBC) Mandy Sargent, 54, is a bowler who demonstrates the perseverance required to achieve in a sporting arena despite being ‘differently-abled’.

Born with cerebral palsy, Mandy has minimal use of her left limbs but, undeterred by her physical disability, as a young girl she began competing in field events for the disabled athletic association. Realising she did not have the arm strength to compete against more muscular contestants in the senior division she turned her hand to lawn bowls where she found her niche and has achieved what many can only dream of.

With the Association for Disabled Bowlers, Mandy was selected to travel to the United Kingdom in 1995 to compete in trials to qualify for the Paralympics in Atlanta in the USA in 1996. Her success in these trials resulted in her representing South Africa in the singles competition in Atlanta and achieving a fourth place in the world in her category. Her subsequent bowling highlights include two trips to the United Kingdom to represent South Africa in international competitions where she competed in the singles, pairs and trips categories and achieved a silve medal for trips.

Between 2005 and 2015 Mandy participated in the South African Nationals for Disabled Bowlers and mentions the highlight of these years being a gold medal in the women’s pairs section. “Playing in South Africa and abroad is very different, because here we play outdoors. Overseas in Winter we play indoors, which is a whole different ball game, which is played on a carpet surface. It’s a lot harder. You need to be quite strategic in how you throw the bowl,” she shared.

She moved to the Bluff early in 2019 and joined the Wentworth Bowling Club where she has been fully accepted as a force to be reckoned with on the bowling green. She has entered and held her own in club competitions and has travelled with women’s teams to compete in inter-club competitions.

“Being a WBC member has been lovely. It’s a very inclusive club and they have really made me feel at home. I play bowls as a hobby and I really enjoy it. The competitive element of it is really good because it makes you want to better your game, especially when you’re playing against men. It toughens you up and makes your game a lot stronger,” said Mandy who enjoys the challenge of playing against able-bodied members.

She would like to see more youngsters who have disabilities get involved with the sport and would happily spend time with these youngsters on the green. She recalls that her club tried to host a bowling tournament to include the differently-abled in 2019, but associations were reluctant to participate. She chuckles when she explains that disabled bowlers have nicknamed competitors in wheelchairs ‘wheelies’ and those on crutches ‘wobblies’.

Bowls South Africa has nominated November as Awareness of Bowls for the Disabled Month. In keeping with the ethos of ‘1sport4all’, most disabled bowlers belong to and play in able-bodied clubs and competitions and are not in any way restricted to a field of disability. The disability arena opens up an additional dimension for participation and competition in which the disabled can participate internationally.

“Lawn bowls is one of the few sports where able-bodied and the disabled can compete together on equal footing by virtue of the nature of the sport. Any disabled person, whether they be an amputee, a polio victim, have a neurological dysfunction, be on crutches, in a wheelchair or visually impaired, should join a bowling club and enjoy the challenge lawn bowls presents,” encouraged Mandy.  

FOR YOUR INFORMATION

As your local news provider, we have the duty of keeping you factually informed on Covid-19 developments. As you may have noticed, mis- and disinformation (also known as “fake news”) is circulating online. Caxton Local Media is determined to filter through the masses of information doing the rounds and to separate truth from untruth in order to keep you adequately informed. Local newsrooms follow a strict pre-publication fact-checking protocol. A national task team has been established to assist in bringing you credible news reports on Covid-19. For any comments or queries, contact the National Group Editor, Irma Green at irma@caxton.co.za or the Legal Adviser, Helene Eloff at  helene@caxton.co.za.

DID YOU KNOW? Click on the words highlighted in red to read more on this and related topics. To receive news links via WhatsApp or Telegram, send an invite to 061 876 3179 The Southlands Sun is also on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest – why not join us there?

Do you have more information pertaining to this story? Feel free to let us know by commenting on our Facebook page or you can contact our newsroom on 031 903 2341 and speak to a journalist.